Sou Hu Cai Jing·2025-06-20 09:51Industry Overview - The Chinese internet user growth has peaked, with limited new user acquisition and skyrocketing customer acquisition costs [8] - Investment, exports, and consumption are all experiencing weakness, leading to a decline in consumer spending and a downturn in e-commerce and local services [8] - Competition has intensified, with major players like Douyin, Pinduoduo, JD, and Taobao reducing their customer acquisition spending while facing fierce competition [9] - Many investors are relocating to Singapore due to the impact of Sino-US relations, resulting in a decrease in market capitalization for giants like Alibaba and Tencent, which has led to strategic contractions [9] Company-Specific Developments - Jack Ma's return to Alibaba aims to correct the strategic direction set during Zhang Yong's tenure, focusing on AI strategy and restructuring the "1+6+N" framework to prioritize "users + low prices" [10] - Liu Qiangdong's return to JD is to rectify the mistakes made during Xu Lei's leadership, emphasizing "low prices + supply chain" to compete with Pinduoduo [11] - Zhang Yiming's relocation back to Beijing signifies his increased involvement in ByteDance's AI initiatives, although he will not engage in daily management [12][7] Implications of Founders' Return - The return of founders indicates significant troubles within the companies, as they typically do not return unless necessary, suggesting that companies like Alibaba, JD, and ByteDance are facing stagnation in user growth and profitability [13] - The companies are undergoing strategic contractions and layoffs, having eliminated many non-core businesses, which necessitates the founders' return for a second entrepreneurial effort [13] Future Outlook - Companies like Alibaba, ByteDance, and Baidu are heavily investing in large models, as falling behind in AI could lead to elimination from the market [14] - The future of the internet will be determined by breakthroughs in AI, e-commerce, and hard technology, with the potential to shape the next decade [14]