Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, which of the three giants is the most dangerous?

As the three giants that monopolize domestic search, e-commerce, and instant messaging, each has advantages that are very different from the other two, but they also have similarities.

In addition to their main business, the three giants have expanded outward: Baidu has established advantages in online video (iQiyi), online travel (Qunar), and application stores (Baidu Mobile Assistant) in addition to its search engine advantages. Tencent has established advantages in games (Tencent games including mobile games) and portals (Tencent.com) in addition to instant messaging. Alibaba has re-established its advantages in payment in addition to e-commerce, and has made great progress in finance through its own advantages.

After several years of acquisitions, mergers, investments and alliances, the three giants are no longer fighting alone, and each has its own strategic strength. Baidu has invested in iQiyi, PPS, Qunar, 91 Mobile Assistant, Baidu Nuomi, Dim Sum, Uber, Yidao Car Rental, etc. Tencent has invested in Dianping, Sogou, 58.com, Kingsoft, NavInfo, etc.

Alibaba has acquired and invested in more companies, including AutoNavi, UC Browser, Sina Weibo, Youku Tudou, etc. It acquired a controlling stake in China Culture Media with HK$6.244 billion, invested in Intime Retail with HK$5.37 billion, acquired Hang Seng Electronics with RMB3.299 billion, invested in Wasu Media, invested in Youku Tudou with USD1.22 billion, invested in Singapore Post with USD249 million, and later invested RMB1.2 billion in Guangzhou Evergrande Football Club. It can be said that Alibaba's pace of acquisitions has accelerated significantly in recent years, and the companies it has acquired and invested in also involve multiple Internet fields.

Which of the Big Three is the most unstable?

It’s Alibaba.

As mentioned earlier, Tencent is the most stable of the three giants, so here we will only analyze Baidu and Alibaba.

Why is Alibaba the most unstable?

Alibaba's problem is that it has diversified into multiple businesses, creating stories and imagination everywhere, but its main business is under considerable pressure. What's more frightening is that Alibaba's mobile business has not made much progress, which obviously means greater risks in an era where mobile dominates the future.

Overall, Alibaba’s core competitive advantages are payment, B2C (Tmall) and C2C (Taobao).

Alipay, the payment tool of the Alibaba Empire, is challenged by WeChat Pay (Tenpay). Although WeChat Pay is far behind Alipay at present, it will still have an erosive effect on Alibaba's payment market in the future, and it will be very difficult to overtake it.

B2C (Tmall) business is challenged by JD.com, and is even more precarious than payment. JD.com has basically settled the 3C field, and then there will be competition in other standard product fields such as home appliances, and the competition between POP platforms and non-standard products. The time when you can't see the opponent even with a telescope is long gone.

Today's B2C market is also highly competitive, with many players. JD.com, Suning.com, Amazon China, etc. have entered the market, not to mention Baidu, Tencent, Amazon US, etc. who are eyeing the market.

C2C (Taobao) is the foundation of Alibaba, but the relationship between the platform and merchants is not harmonious now. First, resources are tilted towards B2C, and the entry threshold has been greatly increased; second, Alibaba has carried out several major purges, but the methods were too drastic and turned into mass incidents. In the long run, it is beneficial to consumers and the business environment, and it is an inevitable move to regulate the market. However, in the short term, it still caused some unstable factors, and Alibaba itself cannot escape the suspicion of shielding and condoning and then destroying the bridge after crossing the river.

*** is Alibaba’s policy risk.

With the Guiding Opinions on Promoting the Healthy Development of Internet Finance (hereinafter referred to as the “Guiding Opinions”) and the Administrative Measures for Internet Payment Business of Non-Bank Payment Institutions (Draft for Comments) (hereinafter referred to as the “Draft for Comments”),

The public consultation has officially ended recently, and the cold winter for third-party payment institutions has arrived. The second is Alibaba's counterfeit problem. It is easy to face regulatory issues.

Although Alibaba has acquired a large number of excellent assets such as Weibo, Meituan, Momo, and AutoNavi, it is very difficult to integrate them.

Alibaba has not started to integrate these assets except for marketing and traffic guidance. Currently, Alibaba mainly relies on capital to integrate industries. Due to its thirst for traffic, most of the companies it invests in play the role of traffic diversion. Alibaba itself has limited contribution to the further development of these companies, which is one of the reasons why Alibaba's acquisition of companies has failed.