Says Tencent plans to cut phantom core business

Says Tencent plans to cut phantom core business, phantom core is Tencent's digital collectibles platform, on July 2, Tencent News App also suspended the digital collectibles selling service. Less than a month, the phantom core also faced the same fate. Said Tencent plans to lay off phantom core business.

Said Tencent plans to abolish the phantom core business 1

According to Tencent insiders, Tencent is planning to abolish the "phantom core" business this week, the news in the phantom core Kijan (Tencent internal low-level managers) has been conveyed.

It is understood that the phantom core is Tencent's digital collection platform, in August 2021 on-line, so far less than a year. The initial technical support provided by the alliance chain to the letter chain, after the Tencent blockchain has also become one of its technical support. 2022 early, the phantom core team has revealed that it is developing a new online virtual space, to the meta-universe one step further.

Domestic Internet giants, including Ali, Tencent, Jingdong, etc. have tested the water of digital collection business, with the first-mover advantage and Tencent system of support, the phantom nucleus has become one of the largest digital collection platforms in China. In the Tencent ecology, including QQ music, Tencent news have tested the water digital collection related business, phantom core is one of the most prominent representatives.

It is reported that the phantom nucleus issued on June 21, "Hongyi Venerable Master calligraphy aphorisms screen digital treasures" series only have the cover of the series of a series as well as the series of seven sold out, the remaining 9 models of lagging *** counting 20,245; issued on June 17, the woodblock watermark "Ten Bamboo Zhai Painting" series *** counting lagging 8,206. the afternoon of June 23, phantom nucleus has been a large number of lagging of the two models of the collection of locking position and closed the transaction. With other digital collection details page in the "sold out / has been claimed" labeling is different, the slow-moving collection is labeled as "closed".

It is worth mentioning that on July 2, Tencent News App issued a "digital collection business adjustment announcement", announcing the suspension of the sale of digital collections. And now the phantom core is facing the same fate. For Tencent ecological, phantom core is just one of its projects, but from the industry point of view, phantom core's departure will undoubtedly bring a certain blow to the `development' of the digital collectibles distribution platform.

Analysts said that in the first quarter of 2022, Tencent's net profit declined by more than 20%, and has been three consecutive quarters of net profit decline. In this context, the innovative business that has not yet realized the commercial closed loop has become the first target of layoffs. The abolition of the phantom core business or to continue to reduce costs and increase efficiency.

said Tencent plans to abolish the phantom core business 2

July 20, according to Tencent insiders, Tencent is planning to abolish the "phantom core" business this week, the news in the phantom core Kijian (Tencent internal low-level managers) has been conveyed.

Phantom core is Tencent's digital collection platform, online in August 2021, so far less than a year.

And on July 2, the Tencent News App also suspended the sale of digital collections. Less than a month later, Phantom Core faced the same fate.

Wang Shimu, who is responsible for the phantom core business, was just reassigned to PCG's social platform and app line in May, and is in charge of the phantom core and other innovative businesses that he led to incubate. Previously, he was the head of Tencent News.

Essentially, the domestic digital collection is not NFT's financial attributes, and would not have realized the closed loop. But the more direct reason for the phantom core to be abolished, or Tencent's "cost reduction and efficiency".

It's a digital collection, not NFT

At the beginning of the initial launch of the phantom core, the external claim is still Tencent's "NFT trading platform". The name change occurred in October 2021, the media found that the phantom core App, "NFT" words have disappeared, all changed to "digital collections".

NFT full name Non Fungible Token, non-homogenized currency. It is essentially a unit of data on the blockchain digital ledger, and each token can represent a unique digital profile. Because of its uniqueness, NFT can be used to tag digital assets. Globally, the most well-known NFT project is Bored Ape (Bored Ape Kennel Club), which is currently valued at $4 billion (about Rs 26.7 billion).

Digital collections can be understood as NFTs with Chinese characteristics. they all have the characteristics of the blockchain: they are untamperable, indivisible, and cannot be replaced by each other. But the essential difference is that the underlying layer of NFT is a public chain, completely decentralized, not subject to regulation, and at the same time can be freely bought and sold. The underlying layer of NFT is the public chain of Tencent, which is completely decentralized and not subject to regulation, and can be bought and sold freely.

This underlying logic is different, resulting in the complete removal of the financial attributes of digital collectibles, but this is also the most valuable part of the NFT. A collection that can't be bought or sold, and can only be viewed, has basically no commercial value.

The offshore NFT trading platform relies on Ether is a paid platform, works on the chain need to pay the corresponding fees, usually using virtual currency payments. However, the relevant Chinese regulators have issued a series of regulations and policies that explicitly prohibit the pricing and trading of virtual currencies.

For example, as early as 2013, the People's Bank of China and five other ministries issued the Notice on Preventing the Risks of Bitcoin, which explicitly stipulates that they may not engage in the business of exchanging legal tender with tokens and "virtual currencies" with each other, and may not buy or sell or act as a central counterparty to buy or sell tokens or

The Phantom Core team previously responded to the name change by saying that the digital collection business in the Phantom Core platform uses a full process of real names of users, a full-link review of the content, and is not open to the transfer of digital products between users, and resolutely resists the illegal and illicit behavior of virtual currency-related activities.

Therefore, at the beginning of the phantom core on-line, the first batch of 300 limited "thirteen invited vinyl records NFT" sold out in one second, but in the past month, the phantom core of a number of digital collectibles has appeared to be stagnant. Phantom Core issued on June 21, "Venerable Hongyi calligraphy maxims screen digital perfect" lagging *** counted 20,245 pieces, issued on June 17, woodblock watermark "Ten Bamboo Zhai Painting" series *** counted 8,206 pieces of lagging sales.

As of July 20, 2022, there are no digital collections for sale within the Phantom Core App. The latest digital collection to go on sale is the Branches and Onions Bird Roosting series by Italian missionary Lang Shining, which went live on July 8. The entire series of 10 works is also unsold out.

Tencent's keyword of the year: cost reduction and efficiency

In the Q1 2022 earnings call, Ma said that in the face of industry challenges, the company implemented cost control measures and adjusted some of its non-core businesses, which will help it achieve a more optimized cost structure in the future.

In Q1 of fiscal year 2022, Tencent's net profit was RMB 25.55 billion, down 23% year-on-year. This is the third consecutive quarter of net profit decline for Tencent.

At the same time, Tencent's workforce is ballooning. in Q1 2022, Tencent had about 116,200 employees, up 30.2% year-on-year. total compensation in Q1 2022 was RMB 29.229 billion, up 43.2% year-on-year. Employee compensation, is already Tencent's top expense item.

Against this backdrop, innovative businesses that have yet to realize a commercial closed loop have become the first targets for retrenchment.

According to a report by Interface News, PCG has established a new GR (Gate Review) mechanism, whereby projects will be shut down and adjusted if they fail to meet expectations after reaching a certain stage of development.

The shutdown of Little Goose was the result of this mechanism.

Little Goose is part of the NBase division of Create Camp, and is headed by Shimu Wang, who incubated the company.

Wang Shimu joined Tencent in August 2021 as general manager of Tencent News, reporting directly to Tencent COO Ren Yuxin.

Prior to that, he was the head of NetEase Cloud Music and successfully drove it to become the head of the online music market.

After joining Tencent, Wang Shimu kicked off the reform of Tencent News' personalized recommendations, advocating the use of big data and algorithmic recommendations to turn Tencent News into a diversified content platform covering video and community.

But this transformation is not successful. 2022 Q1 Tencent News advertising revenue fell as much as 30%. Under the premise of "cost reduction and efficiency", revenue has become an important internal assessment standard for Tencent. In the past, the assessment criteria mainly lies in whether the brand of "Tencent News" has benefited, and the team does not need to bear too much pressure on revenue.

Now, Wang Shimu is no longer in charge of Tencent News. The previously incubated goose has been shut down, and the phantom core will soon be abolished.

Tencent is planning to cut back on its phantom core business3

According to Sina Tech, Tencent insiders revealed that Tencent is planning to cut back on its "phantom core" business this week, and that this news has already been communicated to the phantom core base (the lower level of Tencent's internal management). Now the interface news also from a source informed that this matter is basically true, as early as the beginning of July, the phantom nuclear external business has stopped.

Phantom Core is Tencent's digital collectibles platform, which was launched in August 2021, and has not yet been launched for a year. It is worth mentioning that on July 2, Tencent News App suspended the sale of digital collections.

Domestic Internet powerhouses, including ants, Tencent, Jingdong, etc. have tested the water of the digital collection business, with the advantages of first-mover advantage and Tencent system of support, phantom nucleus has become one of the largest digital collection platforms in China.

Digital collectibles originated from the foreign NFT concept, NFT full Non Fungible Token, non-homogenized currency. The essence is the blockchain digital ledger on the data unit, each token can represent a unique digital information. Because of its uniqueness, NFT can be used to mark digital assets. It is worth mentioning that since China has been holding a prohibitive attitude towards virtual currency speculation, digital collections shield the financial attributes of NFTs, adopt the technology supported by the alliance chain, and restrict secondary transactions.

Analysts said that Tencent's net profit in the first quarter of 2022 declined by more than 20%, and Tencent's net profit declined for three consecutive quarters. Tencent has recently implemented cost-control measures and adjusted some of its non-core businesses, and this time, the "phantom core" business may be eliminated in order to continue to reduce costs and increase efficiency.

Tencent has not yet responded.

Tencent has not yet responded.