Note: This article is reprinted from Cnbeta, please note...
The premature failure of Taobao's newly launched "Zhaocai Jinbao" paid service, which has been available for less than a month, sparked a verbal spat between Jack Ma and Pony Ma.
"In the past year and a half, we have endured countless pressures and overt attacks," Jack Ma directly pointed his finger at Pony Ma, seemingly overwhelmed with emotion. "I personally believe that poaching employees is exhausting, and competition among internet peers should follow certain rules. Innovation is hard to achieve by simply poaching people. Currently, the biggest problem with Tencent's Paipai.com is the lack of innovation - everything is copied."
"Pony Ma is a well-known plagiarist in the industry, and he shamelessly and openly copies..." Wang Zhidong also made the same "accusation."
If it weren't for these accusations from two heavyweight IT "bosses," few people would care about Tencent's performance. However, in the first quarter of 2006, Tencent's internet value-added services revenue reached $54.3 million, an increase of 193% year-on-year, almost matching the $56.2 million revenue of online gaming giant NetEase. But Tencent's total revenue was as high as $80.3 million, an increase of 115% year-on-year, far surpassing NetEase and ranking first in China's internet industry.