In early May, Renren.com internally released its three financial statements for the first quarter of 2008 and April.
These included the balance sheet, income statement, and cash flow statement.
It could be described as a flourishing scene.
The number of registered users on Renren.com exceeded 120 million, and the concurrent online users of DNF had already surpassed 3 million.
Net profit for the first quarter reached 430 million.
Among them, DNF performed brilliantly.
Under Renren.com's operation, it distanced itself from "Disconnected City," and all its data rapidly soared.
As a non-public company, it did not need to disclose its financial reports externally; otherwise, it would stun many people.
Midway, Chen Pingjiang took time to attend the ribbon-cutting and groundbreaking ceremony for the Gemini Tower, along with Yan Liming, who had just been promoted to district chief, and the Dongjiang City Mayor.
After the ribbon-cutting ceremony, Chen Pingjiang had an in-depth conversation with the other party.
The main point was simple: any requests would be fully supported by the government, as long as they didn't relocate.
There was no way around this; it wasn't without reason that most internet companies were concentrated in BJ, Shanghai, and Shenzhen.
Firstly, first-tier cities have a talent advantage.
"Talent" here doesn't necessarily refer to university graduates, but rather experienced workers.
For example, would a programmer leaving a large company consider coming to Dongjiang or choose another nearby company?
In addition, being closer to the capital market also brings more technical support and policy support.
Chen Pingjiang verbally agreed, but in the future, a Shanghai headquarters or a Shenzhen headquarters would definitely be established, each responsible for different businesses or setting up independent research institutes.
Dongjiang City also had no better solution; its foundation was too weak, and it had finally produced a prominent company like Renren.com, which it treasured immensely.
May 10th.
Renren.com held a press conference in BJ, announcing its signing with CCTV.com, the official new media broadcaster for the 2008 Olympics, to obtain internet broadcasting rights for the 2008 Olympic Games.
According to the authorization agreement, Renren.com has the right to live stream and on-demand broadcast the BJ Olympic events aired by CCTV.com immediately, including the opening ceremony, closing ceremony, and key events.
This also indicates that the Olympic event video content authorization obtained by Renren.com this time will be no less than that of any other internet website that has partnered with CCTV.com on Olympic video rights.
Wang Wenbin, General Manager of CCTV International, stated at the press conference,
"As a Chinese portal, Renren.com is undoubtedly one of China's most powerful internet and video dissemination agencies, and should undoubtedly be the first choice."
Mr. Chen Pingjiang, Chairman and CEO of Renren Holdings, stated,
"Throughout the Olympic Games, Renren.com, as the most representative Chinese internet enterprise, will leverage its leading network technology advantages, nationwide coverage, and integrated resource advantages to provide users with the best 24/7 online Olympic coverage service with a spirit of cooperation, sharing, and win-win."
"At the same time, unlike other traditional portal websites, Renren.com will be able to interact and communicate with numerous domestic athletes."
The other portal websites jointly selected actually included Tencent, NetEase, Sina, Sohu, and others.
However, unlike these four portal websites, Renren.com could achieve more interactive and communication functions, whereas the portal websites could mainly only serve as media.
To a certain extent, Renren.com had become a leading internet enterprise in China, gaining recognition from all sectors of society.
After the press conference, Renren.com's business team began to act, talking to all potential gold medal favorite athletes and signing them all to Renren.com.
For this purpose, Renren.com also launched its "Renren Live" feature.
With the Olympics approaching, all related topics would become very popular.
With so many events in the Olympics, people couldn't possibly watch live TV broadcasts every day; most would check results and medal counts.
Therefore, the internet definitely became the primary channel for netizens to obtain Olympic information.
Renren had already launched a special Olympic channel, releasing all news related to the Olympics.
Among them, the ongoing Olympic torch relay was the most popular.
......
It was another Monday, just like any other.
During the afternoon, Chen Pingjiang kept an eye on the time in the bottom right corner of his computer, continuously refreshing portal websites.
Until a flurry of news arrived.
Chen Pingjiang's heart also gradually sank to the bottom.
Chen Pingjiang could not go to the site, nor could he prepare excavators or other equipment; doing too much preparation would be difficult to explain later.
The company's senior management immediately convened a meeting.
At the meeting, Chen Pingjiang said with a dark expression,
"From now on, if any business under your charge has even the slightest problem, there will be no discussion, you're out."
"Li Xi, send more people to your side; if there aren't enough, redeploy staff. There must not be any sensitive information, and pay special attention to malicious comments."
"Tian Hongrui, it's the same for DNF. If any problems arise, you will be held accountable."
DNF and Renren.com absolutely could not become a replica of "Audition."
It should be noted that the once hugely popular "Audition" was replaced by "QQ Xuanwu" after the Zhang Ya incident.
No one in the conference room dared to breathe loudly; Chen Pingjiang had once again transformed into a tyrant.
This matter was no small deal; if problems truly arose, the damage to Renren.com and DNF would undoubtedly be fatal.
On the morning of the 18th, Chen Pingjiang flew directly to BJ to attend the disaster relief gala.
Compared to donations from other internet companies, Chen Pingjiang truly invested heavily.
He even made the final appearance as the finale, holding a red sign in both hands.
It read 200 million RMB and 100 million RMB worth of supplies.
Some said there were unwritten rules even for donations; Chen Pingjiang scoffed at this.
As an entrepreneur, Chen Pingjiang always believed he was a Chinese entrepreneur, and as such, he must have a sense of social responsibility.
On the 19th, the entire Renren.com website turned black, and all games within the group ceased operations.
At 2:38 PM.
Chen Pingjiang stood silently in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, listening to the cacophony of sirens and air-raid alarms.
......
May 25th.
Chen Pingjiang received the special torchbearer kit.
The top was a short-sleeved T-shirt, white on the left half, bright red on the right half, with a number plate on the right side of the chest.
Chen Pingjiang was No. 43.
After getting it, Chen Pingjiang flamboyantly put on the torchbearer uniform and bounced around in front of Yan Yan, showing off.
Yan Yan propped her chin and stared at Chen Pingjiang.
After bouncing around for a while, Chen Pingjiang asked,
"Why are you staring at me so intently?"
"Because you're handsome."
"Oh, sweet talker, come give me a kiss."
Chen Pingjiang walked out of the office in his torchbearer uniform, deliberately showing off everywhere.
This represented glory!
Miao Bingwei watched this scene with envy.
"I say, Director Chen, can you really do it? Don't be out of breath after running 200 meters and embarrass our company. People might spread rumors that our big BOSS is young but very frail."
Chen Pingjiang pouted,
"Do I look like someone who gets out of breath, given my thick hair?"
Miao Bingwei immediately fell silent.
Damn it, you don't expose people's shortcomings when scolding them, but Chen Pingjiang simply didn't play by the rules.
"Come on, it's your first time at our company, right? I'll show you around,"
Chen Pingjiang said with a playful smile, pulling Yan Yan's hand.
Unexpectedly, Yan Yan rolled her eyes, letting Chen Pingjiang continue to pull her around and show off.
"Wow, is that the boss's wife?"
A new employee exclaimed after seeing the angelic Yan Yan.
An older employee who had seen Yan Yan smiled and said,
"Otherwise? Only our big BOSS could be worthy of a beauty of this caliber."
"Did the big BOSS save Earth or the galaxy in his previous life? He's handsome and rich, and found such a beautiful girlfriend."
"NO, I disagree. Why don't you say it's the boss's wife who is lucky to have found the big BOSS?"
After completing a round, just as Chen Pingjiang was about to return to his office, Yan Yan asked,
"Isn't there also the fifteenth floor? We haven't been there yet."
As soon as Chen Pingjiang thought of Ge Mengshi, he waved his hand and smiled, saying very naturally,
"People are already saying I'm showing off by walking around here. Going downstairs again would be too conspicuous."
On the morning of May 26th.
Olympic torchbearers and escort runners for the Dongjiang leg of the relay gathered in Dongjiang.
On the morning of May 27th.
The provincial top leader handed the torch to the first torchbearer, Yang Yang, at the starting ceremony.
What Chen Pingjiang didn't expect was that the torchbearer ranked No. 42 was Gao Yuanyuan.
At this time, Gao Yuanyuan was not yet thirty, in the prime of her life.
This was a true goddess.
Unexpectedly, Gao Yuanyuan actually knew Chen Pingjiang.
The moment he took the torch, Chen Pingjiang felt its weight in his hands, having been passed through so many people from such a distant place to him.
Immediately, a surge of heroic spirit burst forth in his chest.
At this moment, he became the focus of 1.4 billion people; countless eyes were converged upon him.
Chen Pingjiang straightened his back and ran forward step by step with light yet heavy strides.
Cheers erupted from the roadside.
Just a short 200 meters, Chen Pingjiang still felt unsatisfied after finishing the run.
After the run, a group of reporters rushed over, setting up their cameras and microphones to interview Chen Pingjiang.
Relatively speaking, there weren't many celebrities at the torch relay ceremony in Dongjiang.
Among them, apart from a few entertainment stars, the most famous was "National Husband" Chen Pingjiang.
The title "National Husband" was a trend that started circulating on the internet after the disaster relief gala.
Xu Fangjuan and Chen Guangming, who were watching the live broadcast at home, couldn't stop smiling.
"My son is still the most promising; ordinary people wouldn't even be invited to carry the Olympic torch."
After speaking, Xu Fangjuan turned to look at Chen Guangming, who hadn't responded for a while, and glared at him:
"All you do is smile. Our son did such a big thing, and you don't even know how to praise him a little?"
In the words of later generations, Old Chen's behavior was described as failing to provide emotional value.
He deserved to be scolded.
Chen Guangming still chuckled, nodding,
"Happy, I'm definitely happy."
"Let's go to Dongjiang after a while; I miss our son."
"Okay, let's go. Several months have passed in a flash."
"While we're at it, it'll be good to meet Yan Yan's parents. We didn't see them last time we visited. They've been together for over a year now; it should be stable, it's time to meet them."
(End of chapter)