Stronger by Paying Salaries and I Have 1 Billion Employees

Her professional competence, reporting efficiency, and logical thinking were in no way inferior to those of a high-achieving former Ah Li executive like Yan Peng.

After she finished speaking, Wang Teng, He Shuang, Zhang Cong, Zhou Ze, Ding Houmeng, and the others also completed their work summaries and year-end reviews one after another.

’7.49 billion Hua Yuan?’

’No wonder Lei Yijun resorted to selling TVs, air conditioners, and electric fans—even desk lamps, mugs, and nightlights. He’d practically turned Xiaomi into a general store.’

After deducting costs for materials, manufacturing, patent licensing fees, and after-sales service, a mobile phone company with nearly 150 billion in annual revenue was left with just over 7 billion in net profit.

’It’s like begging for scraps!’

’The ones really making money are Qualcomm and ARM, not the device manufacturers and retailers.’

”Lao Zhou, we need to accelerate our expansion in overseas markets. Make it a core strategy for fiscal year 2013.”

Chen Yansen instructed Zhou Shouzhi, who was beside him.

”Yes, Boss. I understand,” Zhou Shouzhi immediately replied.

「At the same time.」

Far away in Yanjing, at Xiaomi Headquarters, Lei Yijun sat in a conference room, staring at the large screen in front of him, turning a deaf ear to Li Wanqiang’s words.

Xiaomi Technology’s shipments in 2012 were 7.26 million units. Including digital peripherals, joint game operations, and software revenue, the total revenue was 12.6 billion, with a net profit of 1.74 billion.

’They’d earned over a billion, but for a whole year of frantic work, the amount was pathetic.’

”President Lei, should we issue the announcement?” Li Wanqiang called out a few times. Seeing no reaction from Lei Yijun, he raised his voice.

”We have to face the music eventually. Post it.”

Lei Yijun sighed. His expression betrayed no joy, but it wasn’t one of sadness, either.

Annual sales of 7.26 million units put them in the middle of the pack—a little better than Meizu and OPPO, but far behind Huawei and ZTE.

As for Orange, Mountain Star, and Apple, Xiaomi wasn’t even in the same league.

”Understood,” Li Wanqiang replied.

What he hadn’t expected, however, was that just as Xiaomi’s official social media account posted the year-end results, Zhou Hongyi followed up by announcing the full-year sales for 360 Mobile Phone.

Relying on one ”purebred” special-supply model and one quasi-in-house smartphone, 360 Mobile Phone managed to sell an incredible 8.39 million units in 2012.

Though he didn’t say it outright, the figure stood in stark contrast to Xiaomi’s 7.26 million units.

”Judging from the sales figures, 360 Mobile Phone’s products are solid, much stronger than a certain ’coarse grain’ brand. Since a certain someone wants to make phones, they should do it properly: One, don’t rely on insults and arguments for marketing; Two, don’t rely on copying and plagiarism to follow up with products…”

Zhou Hongyi posted a lengthy tirade, throwing the same insults Lei Yijun had used against him right back in his face.

It sent netizens into fits of laughter!

’Did 360 Mobile Phone even have its own technology?’

’If not for its reliance on Orange Technology’s supply chain and manufacturing capabilities, it would have most likely shared the same fate as the Haier W910.’

”Hello, President Zhou. Can you tell me the IP address of that pig brain of yours? All of 360’s phones are low-end models. How can you even compare them to Xiaomi?”

A netizen whose username had a MIUI system prefix shot back mercilessly.

Zhou Hongyi was so angry he laughed. He immediately put the commenter on blast and publicly challenged Lei Yijun, ”Mid-range phones, you say? 360 is about to launch a 1,999 Hua Yuan smartphone with specs that will absolutely demolish Xiaomi’s. We’ll compete on next year’s domestic sales, and I’m going to slap you right across the face.”

Lei Yijun, Li Wanqiang, and Lin Bing all jumped into the fray, getting into a flame war with Sect Leader Zhou.

Seeing the commotion, and as if things weren’t chaotic enough, NetEase’s Ding Lei chose the height of their flame war to announce NetEase’s phone sales: a cumulative 4.13 million units.

This infuriated Huang Zhang from Meizu and Chen Yongming from OPPO. ’Who the hell are the idiots buying NetEase and 360 phones?’

’They’d worked their asses off all year, only to lose to two amateurs. How is that fair? How the fuck is that reasonable?’