TCLeTV: Jia Yueting's power and Li Dongsheng's strength

TCL+LeTV=TCLeTV.

On December 14, Li Dongsheng and Jia Yueting joined hands to turn this equation, which was previously unthinkable, from impossible to possible. Since then, TCL, the world's third largest TV manufacturer by shipments, has 20% of LeTV elements.

LeEco Vice President Amu described it as a marriage, a marriage that starts with getting a marriage license and ends with talking about feelings. In fact, in the eyes of an outsider, marriage is still too slow. It is more like a top-down hybrid behavior similar to color matching, a fusion at the DNA level.

Why is there such a fusion? Because time is of the essence. In a market that has been stagnant for years, new entrants have continued to pour in, and industry profits have long been controlled by upstream Japanese and Korean companies, the TV manufacturing industry is in urgent need of a new force to trigger a restart, combining the production capacity advantages of the manufacturing industry with the backward charging model commonly used by the Internet, and exploring a practical and sustainable development path on the TV, the big screen in the living room.

TCLeTV's fake momentum and leverage

Previously, TCL and LeTV had both made independent attempts, hoping to complete the industry evolution through their own efforts and stand at the top of the world trend.

Looking back now, we cannot say that our respective plans and arrangements were not brilliant. It is just that opening up industrial links and connecting all industrial fields is not an overnight task, because the huge time cost brought about by trial and error is something that no one can afford.

TCL, which owns the panel factory CSOT, is the only brand TV manufacturer in China that has opened up the entire hardware industry chain. However, in the Internet era where user operations are important, TCL, which is good at resource integration and product manufacturing, does not seem to be at ease. It has 17 million new users each year, but is helpless in value-added services.

On the other hand, LeTV has only been around for three years, and its cumulative sales have only reached 5 million units, but it has created the top TV user activity rate and payment rate in China. However, due to genetic limitations, it still has to work hard on product manufacturing and production capacity control. It was reported that the first generation of LeTV TV was determined to be manufactured by Foxconn after searching for more than a dozen OEM factories, and there were many twists and turns. What's more, as a durable consumer product, the early channels and later after-sales service of TVs will become more and more difficult as sales increase.

Compared with the exhilaration of conquering cities when the rebellion was launched, governing the conquered cities is another set of management and dispatch, and the supporting channel after-sales service is particularly important. And this is exactly what TCL, which has been deeply involved in the TV field for 30 years, is good at.

As the saying goes, a gentleman is good at making use of things. In a nutshell, in the face of opportunity costs that no one can afford to lose, if both sides can borrow from each other, the cost of trial and error for each side will be greatly reduced. After all, both sides have the advantages that the other side wants, and hybridization is the quickest way to make genes stronger. Instead of drawing swords and engaging in civil war, it is better to reorganize genes and press the restart button together.

In this regard, Li Dongsheng said, "LeEco's ecological chain is a breakthrough. I have always wondered how to achieve this. By using this ecological chain, we have the opportunity to surpass Korean, Japanese and even American companies and establish the real advantages of Chinese companies. This is also the goal we hope to achieve through the cooperation between TCL and LeEco."

Jia Yueting said, "We hope to leverage TCL's strong upstream 8.5-generation production capacity and global supply chain capabilities to contribute greatly to LeEco's globalization."

After hearing so many bosses at press conferences being so modest and flattering to each other, Li Dongsheng and Jia Yueting's naked expression actually highlights a gentlemanly frankness. At the same time, it at least shows that this cooperation has clear interests, clear attitudes, and clear division of labor, so transparent that there is no need to use various words to cover up the real intentions. Just like what Churchill said to US President Roosevelt in the bathroom of the White House when he visited the United States during World War II, "There is nothing to hide in front of the closest allies."

In fact, this is indeed the case, because both parties share the same goal of globalization. Therefore, Li Dongsheng took advantage of Jia Yueting's cloud-to-end ecosystem, and Jia Yueting got Li Dongsheng's 30 years of experience in manufacturing. Everyone is happy.

The speed and slowness of TCLeTV

This was a fast cooperation. According to an insider, "The two sides talked for no more than four months, and there was basically no talk. The reason why they decided on such a high ratio of 20% at the first time was to make both sides feel that they were serious about each other."

In a business world where precision is measured to the millimeter, why is the cooperation between TCL and LeTV filled with a bold and unrestrained spirit of running towards the stars and the sea?

Perhaps in the face of cooperation, TCL and LeEco have no time to calculate the gains and losses, and all they have is to make bold moves under the right and wrong circumstances. There is a detail, that is, about four months ago, Hao Yi, president of TCL Multimedia, announced his resignation and started his own business.

"It really happened too fast, so fast that I would not have known about it if the group had not issued an announcement," a TCL middle manager told reporters.

Are things really happening quickly?

In fact, behind this news that shocked many TV industry practitioners, there has always been a hidden fact - Li Dongsheng and Jia Yueting have admired each other for many years. More than one source confirmed: a year ago, the two sides intended to join forces to fight against one company, but at that time it was TCL that intended to invest in LeTV. As Liang Jun, president of LeTV Zhixin, inadvertently revealed after the meeting, "There was indeed cooperation at the product level very early on."

The cooperation between the two parties is fast on the surface, but slow heat is the real deal. TCL's determination to go online is not the first day. It started with the Ice Cream TV that Ma Huateng personally attended, and then went through the short-lived TV+ TV with iQiyi, and now merged with LeTV. How to operate tens of millions of users well? TCL, which has been going around in circles for several years, really can't wait any longer.

Instead of practicing the return run by feeling the stones in the river, it is better to join hands with those who have already crossed the river. At this moment, Li Dongsheng is the resolute King Wuling of Zhao. For the sake of his grand ambition, what does it matter if he wears Hu clothing and rides and shoots? History tells us that after the reform of Hu clothing and riding and shooting, the territory of Zhao expanded three times. In the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the effective expansion of the living force was the kingly way.

For Jia Yueting, TCL's panel resources, manufacturing capabilities across the entire industry chain, and nationwide sales channels are like the Yangtze River. It is not impossible to build everything by yourself, but the risks accumulated by time costs will become a fatal double-edged sword. Now that LeTV has joined hands with TCL, all these problems are beginning to be solved.

TCLeTV, with Jia Yueting's momentum and Li Dongsheng's power, can control speed freely. We expect it to become an absolute new force that truly changes the Chinese television industry.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.