Stronger by Paying Salaries and I Have 1 Billion Employees

Chapter 146: Chapter 136: Orange Mobile Phone Engineering Version, Hardware Troubles

「The third day of summer vacation.」

After finishing his morning meeting at the Innovation Park, Chen Yansen drove to the Zhuxian Town Science and Technology Park.

Downloads for Aurora OS had already surpassed twenty million. At this rate, even if only ten percent of those users bought the new phone, Orange Mobile Phone could still sell two million units.

The tech community widely agreed that the two most anticipated new products of 2011 were Lei Yijun’s Xiaomi Mobile Phone and Chen Yansen’s Orange Mobile Phone.

After all, Xiaomi and Orange Technology were the first phone manufacturers to launch customized operating systems, enhancing the user experience on a software level.

They had cultivated a potential user base of millions, even tens of millions.

Although Orange Technology hadn’t officially announced the new phone’s release date, the establishment of the Shencheng City Orange Phone Factory was a clear signal to the public that the Orange Mobile Phone was just one step away from hitting the market.

There wasn’t much traffic, and ten minutes later, his car pulled into the Science and Technology Park.

As soon as Chen Yansen reached the second floor, he saw Gao Weilin sitting on a rattan chair in the balcony lounge area, a laptop in his lap. Gao Weilin was leisurely sipping coffee, having clearly adapted to work and life in Xucheng.

”Old Gao, aren’t you hot?” Chen Yansen said with a smile, walking over and sitting down across from him.

The sun was rising in the east, and the air was already starting to feel warm and muggy.

”Boss, would you like to try my new coffee beans? They’re a new batch from Narino this year, with a hint of citrus.”

Gao Weilin started to stand up to greet him, but Chen Yansen gestured for him to stay seated. So, he just raised his cup and offered with a smile.

The morning sun felt pleasantly warm, and Gao Weilin seemed to be enjoying it.

”No, thanks. It’s not for me.” Chen Yansen waved his hand dismissively before asking, ”What’s the word from Lotte?”

”They’re very interested, but just like Ali Baba, Lotte is short on funds. Based on FoxTao’s current growth, whether we use a price-to-sales or a price-to-earnings valuation method, the final valuation won’t be less than 2.5 billion US dollars.”

Gao Weilin shrugged and said with a smile, ”This is a huge investment for Lotte, so I’ve also contacted Augusta Capital. My plan is to use a joint-sale approach with one primary and one secondary partner to sell FoxTao as a package.”

This type of acquisition isn’t common in the Mainland, but it’s standard practice on Hong Kong Island.

For many venture capital firms, a controlling stake isn’t important. As long as they can make a profit, they’re happy.

After Lotte learned that Ali Baba was also interested in FoxTao, they started leveraging their relationship with SoftBank. The plan is to acquire FoxTao jointly with Augusta and then merge it into Ali Baba.

This would allow them to indirectly acquire a stake in Ali Baba!

Compared to a stake in FoxTao, shares in an e-commerce giant like Ali Baba are obviously far more attractive.

”I’ve always trusted you to handle things,” Chen Yansen said with a nod, not questioning him further.

’Boss, we’ve only known each other for a month, haven’t we?’

Gao Weilin opened his mouth, wanting to make a sarcastic remark, but he held his tongue.

Since resigning, he had been working even harder here in the Mainland than he ever did at Zhaoye Group.

He knew that if he could close this deal, he would instantly make a name for himself in the country’s internet business circles.

”Boss, the Orange Phone Factory’s financial accounting and capital management have been integrated into our financial shared services center and ERP system. Every transaction is transparent and traceable, so it’s very difficult for anyone to pull any tricks.”

Pushing aside his stray thoughts, Gao Weilin continued.

”Alright, I understand. Get back to it, then. If you’re short-staffed, just have HR do some recruiting for you.”

Chen Yansen grunted in acknowledgment and headed upstairs.

He had flat-out rejected the R&D team’s initial industrial design drafts. The bezels on the top, bottom, left, and right were so wide you could park a fleet of RVs on them.

Compared to the bezel-less phones from over a decade in the future, they were unbearably ugly.