Xiaomi CEO, Lei Jun seems to have lost a bet with Gree Electric Appliances Inc. Chairwoman, Dong Mingzhu. This comes after Gree reported 2018’s total revenue at 198 billion yuan yesterday. The bet, made by Lei Jun on national television, back in December 2013, said that Xiaomi’s revenues would surpass Gree in the next five years. However, Xiaomi’s revenue for the same period was just 174.915 billion yuan, a good 20 billion yuan less than Gree’s figure.
While we still don’t know whether Lei Jun would keep his side of the bet, if he decides to do so, it would cost him 1 billion yuan, and that’s nearly $150 million. At the time of making this bet, it was like David challenging Goliath, with Gree beating Xiaomi in every single department, right from revenue, factories, to even employees. But Lei Jun was betting on the company’s solid online sales model, which has helped the company become one of the top smartphone companies in the world.
It’s worth mentioning that Lei Jun’s initial bet was for just 1 yuan. However, Gree’s Chairwoman, Dong Mingzhu, raised that bet to 1 billion yuan.
Xiaomi or Lei Jun is yet to comment on this matter.
(Source)
