In ten or twenty years, will the core founding teams of these internet companies still be around?

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An interesting angle to observe a company is to look at the changes in the founding team and core business leaders.

If these people remain unchanged as the company continues to grow, it indicates that the management team itself is strong, and the execution of key strategies is consistent. Such companies usually create greater value. For example, Tencent.

Conversely, if there are changes in the core management, it usually means a disruption in key strategies, and sooner or later, problems will surface. For example, Baidu.

From this perspective, some companies may reach different conclusions. Let's take two generations of 10 internet companies as examples.

The first generation of internet companies, founded before 2000: Tencent, Alibaba, NetEase, JD.com, Baidu.

The second generation of internet companies, founded after 2010: ByteDance, Pinduoduo, Xiaomi, Kuaishou, Meituan.

Tencent is indeed the ballast stone of the internet, with some founding team members enjoying the struggle, some retiring after success, and the core business leaders remaining unchanged to this day. Xiaomi has a bit of Tencent's style, but there is still a distance.

As for Baidu, there's no need to say much. Among the seven swordsmen who returned to start the company, only Robin Li remains. The AI research institute, which was once expected to support Baidu's resurgence, has seen too many top talents come and go, which is really a pity!

Alibaba's situation is a bit complicated. Of the 18 Arhats, only 3 have left, but several rounds of changes have occurred among the core business leaders, and the early Zhonggong system has also left.

None of the founding teams of Pinduoduo and ByteDance have left, which is excellent, although the short time since their establishment is also a factor.

NetEase and JD.com have a stronger sense of personal heroism, with no well-known management team members other than Ding Lei and Richard Liu.

Kuaishou's management structure is the most peculiar, with Su Hua and Cheng Yixiao alternating power, and the company's governance has always been somewhat criticized.

Meituan is a bit surprising. Except for Wang Xing and Mu Rongjun, the leaders of core businesses such as food delivery, hotel and travel, and grocery shopping have all changed, and this happened after the initial victory in the war. It's unclear what happened.

1、

Tencent is probably the result that all entrepreneurial teams most want: the company continues to grow stronger, with some founding team members enjoying the struggle, some retiring after success, and the core business leaders remaining unchanged to this day.

Among Tencent's five tigers, Pony Ma and Xu Chenye still sit in the company, while Zhang Zhidong and Chen Yidan have gone to do charity, and Zeng Liqing has become a venture capitalist after achieving financial freedom.

As for the new five tigers of Tencent's core business leaders, Zhang Xiaolong (WeChat), Ren Yuxin (games), Tang Daosheng (QQ, advertising, cloud), Liu Chiping (strategy and investment), and Lu Shan (technology) have remained unchanged.

Since its founding in 1998, Tencent's core management and various businesses have remained as stable as Mount Tai, which is truly rare!

Among the second-generation internet companies, Xiaomi is the most like Tencent.

Among Xiaomi's eight generals, Lei Jun, Lin Bin (R&D, supply chain), Li Wanqiang (MIUI), and Liu De (design) are still in the company, while the other four (R&D, hardware, and other businesses) gradually withdrew after the company went public, which can be considered a successful retirement.

The latest business, the head of the automotive division, Wang Chuan, also joined Xiaomi during its founding period and previously managed home appliances, making him a veteran.

2、

Among the first-generation internet companies, Alibaba is a bit special.

Alibaba's widely known 18 Arhats were Jack Ma's earliest entrepreneurial team, and only 3 have left so far. Sun Tongyu went out to invest in Pinduoduo, and the information on the other two is unknown. From this perspective, Alibaba's founding team is still very stable, after all, Alibaba has been in business for 26 years.

On the other hand, the Zhonggong system team, which made great contributions to Alibaba's early survival, has basically left and directly contributed to the development of many later internet companies, including Meituan, Didi, Manbang, and Qunar. In the past three years, the core management has also changed several times, and there have indeed been strategic shifts.

NetEase and JD.com are somewhat similar, with no memorable founding team members other than the founders Ding Lei and Richard Liu. These two companies also have distinct personal imprints, which can also be understood as one-man shows.

However, NetEase has a cash cow in its gaming business, with a strong team and products, and Ding Lei is happy to enjoy himself, doing many personal interest and sentimental things. JD.com, on the other hand, faces more severe e-commerce competition, and after more than 20 years of entrepreneurship, Richard Liu still has to personally fight, as there is no one else to use.

As for Baidu... forget it, let's not talk about it.

3、

The second-generation internet companies were generally founded after 2010, and have been around for 10-15 years.

ByteDance and Pinduoduo are the only two companies where no one from the core founding team has left, and these two companies also have more similarities.

ByteDance's Zhang Yiming and Liang Rubo are alumni, with three generals Zhang Nan, Chen Lin, and Zhu Jun; Pinduoduo's Huang Zheng and Gu Pinyi are also alumni, with core business leaders Sun Qin, Chen Lei, and Zhao Jiazhen. The common point is that the initial founding team has gone through multiple entrepreneurial experiences, grasping direction and cooperating closely, while those who have achieved success in the business have been promoted to management.

From a business perspective, domestically, they have innovated models with live-streaming e-commerce and affordable e-commerce, taking market share from traditional players. Internationally, they have created the most successful overseas models, Tiktok and Temu, both starting with T?

Meituan is very special. It is undoubtedly strong in combat, being the only survivor of the group-buying war.

However, when counting Meituan's founding veterans, Wang Xing's six visits to the thatched cottage, Alibaba's Zhonggong system TOP 5 employees, and the COO during the group-buying war, A Gan, who led Meituan's hotel and travel, preferred, fast donkey, and grocery shopping businesses to grow strong, Chen Liang, the co-founder of Xiaonei.com, and responsible for multiple important departments of Meituan, Lai Binqiang and Wang Huiwen, all left one by one after 2017.

Tencent's veterans retired after success, going to do charity and investment, but the departure of Meituan's veterans is not transparent. (I'm not nitpicking, please don't report and delete the article, but from an investment perspective, the historical changes in the core management are worth noting.)

Kuaishou's management structure is the most peculiar, with Cheng Yixiao being the true founder, but Su Hua led Kuaishou to become the second in short videos. However, starting at the end of 2021, Su Hua gradually withdrew, and Cheng Yixiao took over as CEO, fully responsible for the company's operations. It may be the change in management style that brought organizational instability, and Kuaishou's corporate governance is the most criticized topic.

In summary, if we evaluate these 10 companies based on the stability of their core management, Tencent is undoubtedly the most noteworthy, having created the greatest returns for investors over the past decade.

Who might be the next Tencent? Xiaomi, Pinduoduo, and ByteDance all have a chance.