As per the reports, the Chinese company has bought the Class B shares at an average price of HKD 9.76 (approximately $1.24), totaling nearly HKD 60 million, which roughly converts to $7.6 million. In a statement, Xiaomi said that the company’s board believes that the current financial resources of the group enable it to implement the share repurchase while maintaining a solid financial position.

It also added that its brand proposition with cost-efficient products “will be even more compelling in current market conditions.” Jin Di, longtime industry watcher and former analyst with IDC said, “Xiaomi shares have been negatively affected since the global consumer electronics market cooled in 2018, and the company intends to provide a boost to the market.”

Xiaomi’s share price slumped around 20 percent in the days preceding the expiry of the company’s six-month lockup period. The company has seen its market value nearly halve since it went public in Hong Kong last July as the smartphone market slows.

Last week, the company’s share price dropped by 3 percent following the sale of 231 million Class B shares by an undisclosed investor. Analysts believe that the company’s business performance, especially in internet services, wasn’t exciting enough and it failed to improve investor confidence.

In the year 2018, Xiaomi shipped nearly 1 billion devices. Apart from its hardware business, the company also has an internet services company, offering online music and movies to around 220 million users. It only accounted for 9.3 percent of the company’s total revenue in the third quarter of 2018.

Read More: Xiaomi announces creation of the African Regional Department to take on the market king, Transsion Holdings

In an annual meeting earlier this month, Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun announced RMB 10 billion (approximately $1.5 billion) investment plan in artificial intelligence (AI) and smart devices over the next five years. The company said it has confidence in its business outlook, which is driven by its smartphones and AIoT strategy — a convergence of AI and internet of things technologies.

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Xiaomi officially launched its IPO offering last month on the Hong Kong stock exchange where it reportedly succeeded in raising $4.5 billion. Although the amount realised is far lower than the expected $10 billion, the company is reportedly planning to put the funds to good use. Apart from consolidating on its China operations, the company will plough a chunk of the money to India.

According to Manu Kuma Jain, Xiaomi India’s head, the Chinese tech giant will infuse some part of the capital raised to build its ecosystem of internet services. The company will also make more startup investments and build India-specific IoT devices. In addition, Xiaomi is setting its sight at breaking into the premium smartphone segment in India, a terrain dominated by Samsung and Apple.

Related: Lucky Chaps: 56 Xiaomi Employees To Become Millionaires After IPO

Manu Jain expatiated that Xiaomi plans to expend 30% of the $4.5 billion on core R&D while another 30% will be spent on building the IoT platform. In addition, 30% will be utilized for global expansion and the remaining 10 per cent for miscellaneous expenses. The Xiaomi India boss did not indicate the amount or percentage of the money that will be channelled to its Indian operations. He did state, however, that “Some part of the global expansion money will be spent in India.” He went further to disclose that the company will do a lot more on internet services, startup investments and building IoT devices that are India specific. Xiaomi tried to position itself as an internet company but that was surrounded in doubt since the copany is best known for its smartphone. Perhaps, going forward, the tech giant could continue its expansion drive towards offering internet services and other products in the IoT segment that has a global appeal. Most of Xiaomi’s IoT gadgets and other products are designed for the Chinese market and so, are always difficult to use outside China due to the language barrier. We hope the company will work on that aspect.

(source)

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Xiaomi share price has experienced a rebound on the second day of trading, according to reports from Hong Kong. The Chinese tech giant officially listed for trading on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on July 9 with the stock code 01810. The stock traded for HK$16.6 on the first day which was 2.35% lower than the issue price of HK$17. But today, the stock price soared higher than the issuing price of HK$17, going as high as HK$17.48. At a point, the stock price peaked at HK$17.50 and as at the time of writing it has risen even further to HK$18.34, which is 9.17%. higher than the listing price.

Xiaomi is set to be included in the Hong Kong Hang Seng Index on July 23, which is a reflection of the company’s valuation. The Hang Seng Index (abbreviated: HSI) is a free-float capitalization-weighted stock market index in Hong Kong. It is used to record and monitor daily changes of the largest companies of the Hong Kong stock market and is the main indicator of the overall market performance in Hong Kong.

Read Also: Xiaomi Redmi 6, 6A, 6 Pro Indian Launch Drawing Near, Claims Report

Although the initial trading price was disappointing, the rise in the trading price is a positive sign that it is just not over yet. Xiaomi could still come out of this with a successful record. Perhaps, if you plan to buy some Xiaomi shares, this is the best time to do it as the prices may continue soaring higher. Despite scepticisms which affected the company’s final valuation, the company is well positioned to be a highly profitable internet company and not just a hardware firm as some view it.

(via)

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Xiaomi has made a less than impressive start on the Hong Kong stock market after its stock dropped on the first day of trading. The company’s shares fell below 2% of the IPO listing price today, after trading at just HK$16.60 (US $2.12) instead of the listing price of HK$17 (US $2.17). In comparison, Hong Kong Exchange’s Hang Seng Index (HSI) was up by around 1.5% today.

It’s clearly not the start that Xiaomi would have hoped for. The company had priced its IPO at $17, the lowest figure in its range of $17-$22 that it had set earlier. Xiaomi reveals that it managed to raise around HK$23.97 billion, which comes to around US $3.05 billion. This IPO valued the company at around $54 billion, much lower than earlier expectations. A while back, there were rumours about an $80 billion valuation too, so this figure is indeed quite low.

Xiaomi’s less than impressive start could be attributed to investors sentiments towards the company’s valuation figures and its ability to generate profits. Although Xiaomi calls itself as an internet company, many analysts believe that it is still a hardware company. Further, majority of the company sales is concentrated on the low-end market where there is very little room for profits.

Another big reason for Xiaomi’s bad start could be because of the rising tensions between China and the US. Stocks in Hong Kong and Shanghai have taken hits with the former market’s benchmark index falling by over 10% as compared to early June. So the macroeconomic condition wasn’t really favourable for an IPO of a big company like Xiaomi.

RELATED: Xiaomi’s POCOPHONE device gets FCC Certification

Xiaomi’s IPO takes the total to $7 billion in new offerings in Hong Kong this year. The company became the first one to list under the new rule that permits dual class of shares on the Hong Kong market.

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The Chinese company made available 109 million shares to retail investors but at the end of a four-day offer period, a total of 109,446 applications were received for 1.03 billion shares. This shows the retail subscription was overbought by 8.5 times according to brokers and bankers familiar with the sale. The response ordinarily wasn’t a bad one but when compared to the benchmark set by ZhongAn Online P&C Insurance HK$11 billion IPO which was oversubscribed 309 times in September last year, the response is lukewarm.

The low response is an indication that investment frenzy by Hong Kong investors is fast waning, 10 months after. ZhongAn’s successful IPO was followed by those of e-publisher China Literature, online car retailer Yixin Group, gaming hardware maker Razer and Ping An Good Doctor. All the offers attracted enormous oversubscriptions and locked in huge amounts of capital. The IPO by online healthcare platform Ping An Good Doctor was oversubscribed by more than 650 times, while Yixin’s offer was overbought 560 times. China Literature, 62 per cent owned by Pony Ma’s Tencent Holdings, received 625 times more capital than its shares on offer, locking in HK$521 billion of capital, equivalent to about a third of Hong Kong’s money supply.

Read More: Xiaomi Sold Over 5 Million Units Of Redmi Note 5 Series In India In Just 4 Months

According to data by Bloomberg, out of the 87 companies that raised funds in the city this year, 53 per cent of the companies traded at prices below their offering prices in their first month of trading and 20 companies fell below their offering prices on their trading debut. So, the lukewarm response has nothing to do with doubts over Xiaomi’s capabilities as a company but more to do with the timing of the public offer. Xiaomi’s offer was a large IPO for the market to digest and came at a time when the Hong Kong market had sunk into a technical bear market by a number of factors, including the escalating US-China trade tensions.

(source)

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The news about the drones in Central Park in the US comes after the Hong Kong roadshow where some investors were left underwhelmed. According to the report, head of Hong Kong-based office of one of the leading New York investment group said that “they want the market to think they are a combination of Apple and Tencent, but they are not.”

Investors at the Hong Kong roadshow said the share pricing was expensive even at the lower end but Xiaomi and its advisers argued that it deserves a bigger multiple in recognition of its broader ecosystem. The company said that its business concern cut across hardware, e-commerce and internet services.

Recently, Xiaomi officially announced its intention to raise up to 6.1 billion US dollars through an IPO in the Hong Kong stock exchange. The company had initially set its sight at raising $10 billion but that was reduced after the company suspended its CDR offering in China.

During the conference held in Hong Kong, Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun said that the company has huge potential for growth in the future. The company also disclosed that it hopes to sell almost 2.2 billion shares to global investors during the IPO which will commence on Monday for between 17 and 22 Hong Kong dollars each (approximately $2.20 to $2.80).

It was disclosed that Xiaomi is valued at between $54 billion and $70 billion, which is lower than the valuation of close to $100 billion the company was reportedly seeking earlier this year.

The offer prospectus from the company says that Xiaomi is primarily an internet company. It further adds that “by first selling a wide variety of smart hardware products, we have built a massive and proprietary platform for the delivery of our diverse internet services.”

Read More: Redmi 6 Pro And Mi Pad 4 Officially Launched; Goes On Sale In China From This Week

The company has further revealed that Lei Jun who has been Xiaomi’s CEO since inception has been awarded stock worth about $1.5 billion for his contributions to the company. The decision was reportedly taken in a consensus and is based on Lei Jun’s devotion over the last eight years to the company he started from scratch, for which he has not taken a salary.

(Source)

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Xiaomi has officially announced its intention to raise up to 6 billion US dollars through an IPO in the Hong Kong stock exchange.  The company made the announcement on Saturday in a press conference attended by all seven directors of the Chinese company. Xiaomi initially set its sight at raising $10 billion but that was reduced because the company suspended its CDR offering in China.

During the conference held in Hong Kong, XIaoi’s CEO Lei Jun expressed positivity that the company has huge potential for growth in the future. He also reiterated that the company’s business concern cut across hardware, e-commerce and internet services. The company also disclosed that it hopes to sell almost 2.2 billion shares to global investors during the IPO which will commence on Monday for between 17 and 22 Hong Kong dollars each ($2.20 to $2.80).

Goldman Sachs is one of the IPO’s sponsors and an Asia-Pacific president of the company, James Paradise, disclosed on Saturday that Xiaomi is valued at between $54 billion and $70 billion. This is notably lower than the valuation of close to $100 billion the company was reportedly seeking earlier this year. But Xiaomi’s Chief Financial Officer, Chew Shou Zi said at the news conference that the company never revealed how much it was valued.

Read Also: Lucky Chaps: 56 Xiaomi Employees To Become Millionaires After IPO

Xiaomi also disclosed in a statement by Lin Bin, co-founder and President of the company that Lei Jun who has been Xiaomi’s CEO since inception has been awarded stock worth about $1.5 billion for his contributions to the company. The decision was reportedly taken in a consensus and is based on Lei Jun’s devotion over the last eight years to the company he started from scratch. Trading in Xiaomi shares on the Hong Kong stock exchange is expected to start on July 9 after the public offer. The money raised from the IPO will be ploughed into increasing its research and development and for global expansion.

(source)

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Xiaomi‘s IPO is about going official on the Hong Kong stock exchange but there are indications that the company has lowered its likely valuation to between US$55 billion and US$70 billion. 

According to three sources with direct knowledge of the matter, the decision to scale down the valuation is said to stem from the delay in its mainland share offering until after its Hong Kong IPO.  The reason for the delay in the valuation of its China depositary receipts (CDRs) is well reported in our earlier article.

Read More: Lucky Chaps: 56 Xiaomi Employees To Become Millionaires After IPO

Xiaomi’s IPO is expected to be the largest in four years since Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd raised $25 billion in its 2014 debut in New York. The company was initially expected to raise US$10 billion but that figure may not be realistic with the recent developments.

(source)

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The company, which is expected to raise about $10 billion in Hong Kong and mainland offerings, said it would apply to China’s securities regulator to postpone a review of its China depositary receipts (CDR) offering application.

Earlier this month, Chinese media reported that Xiaomi had filed an application to issue a CDR with the China Securities Regulatory Commission. The implementation of CDR allows domestic investors to hold shares of overseas-listed companies. Xiaomi was expected to be the first company to benefit from the mechanism, which underlines a dual listing of the firm both in Hong Kong and mainland China.

China Securities Regulatory Commission said in a separate statement that it would suspend the review of Xiaomi’s CDR application, but it did not give any further details. However, it could be related to the commission’s lengthy feedback in the form of 84 classified questions related to Xiaomi’s licenses on online business, ecosystem companies, risk disclosure, shareholding structure, R&D, etc.

According to the sources aware of the development, the decision to postpone the CDR tranche of its deal was taken in the early hours of Tuesday. One source says that the main reason for the postponement was that it appeared CDR rules would not be finalized by the end of June as expected.

While the company is postponing the CDR offering in the mainland, sources say that this would not affect the Hong Kong listing. Xiaomi has not yet said when it would restart its CDR application process or why it was postponing the mainland offering.

China has some rigid specifications for companies that want to issue CDRs on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges, including market value, operating income, etc. According to the report, the Chinese firm is valued by its IPO sponsors between $65 billion and $86 billion.

Read More: Xiaomi Mi Max 3 Full Specifications Leaked Through TENAA Listing

This decision of Xiaomi to pull CDR offering in mainland until after Hong Kong IPO is a big blow for Beijing which is trying to lure tech giants back home. Xiaomi was expected to be the trail-blazer of CDRs, designed to lure domestic technology firms to sell shares at home and give mainland investors access to the country’s leading tech firms.

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Xiaomi is slowly inching closer towards an IPO this year and the necessary steps have already been set into motion. The company’s CDR (Chinese Depository Receipts) application revealed some important figures about the company’s financials earlier today. Let’s take a look at the key figures from this application.

Xiaomi is expected to be valued anywhere from $75 billion to $80 billion in its IPO in Hong Kong later this year. It will be the first Chinese enterprise to raise CDRs, which is usually reserved for companies in the high-tech industry. The application revealed that Xiaomi has shipped over 28 million smartphones in Q1 2018. During the same quarter, the company posted a net loss of 7.03 billion Yuan (~$1 billion).

RELATED: Xiaomi’s IPO Is Reportedly Facing Some Skepticism From Investors

In 2015, 2016, and 2017, Xiaomi’s revenues were 66.8 billion Yuan, 68.4 billion Yuan, and 114.6 billion Yuan respectively. Last year’s growth in revenue has been significant and some of the credit goes to the company’s shift in strategy after a less than impressive 2016. However, despite the growth in revenue, the company still posted a net loss of 43.9 billion Yuan (~$6.85 billion) in 2017.

The CDRs are expected to be issued on July 16.

(Via)

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Xiaomi‘s IPO is expected to go live on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange next month. The countdown has been a mixture of prospects and skepticism. The IPO is expected to be the largest in four years since Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd raised $25 billion in its 2014 debut in New York. Xiaomi has no doubt had a highly successful run lately, beginning from last year. That notwithstanding, it was reported recently that the tech giant’s valuation was reportedly scaled down from $100 billion around $70 billion. 

There are reports that investors are still skeptical about the overall prospect of the IPO. According to a report covered by Reuters, some investors are also worried about Xiaomi’s profit margins, especially since the firm revealed that it will keep its profit margin at 5%. This is in addition to the slide in smartphone sales in China, Xiaomi’s biggest market. It must be noted, though, that Xiaomi’s supposed 5% profit margin doesn’t include profit from its software gotten from advertisement.

Read Also: Lucky Chaps: 56 Xiaomi Employees To Become Millionaires After IPO

At some point, the company may have to change its focus on growth instead of profit since investors are only interested in the profitability of the venture. That could be challenged by Xiaomi’s growing focus on offline sales. The company is gradually expanding its brick-and-mortar stores locations and that is going to increase its operating costs thus eating into already thin profit margins. The IPO will likely go public in the first half of July if the company receive final securities approvals within the move next week. We’ll have to keep our fingers crossed expecting that the IPO lives up to expectations.

(source)

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It’s no longer news that Xiaomi has filed for an IPO in Hong Kong. The IPO which will soon go public could see the company’s valuation pegged at $100 billion which would potentially make the IPO the largest in four years since Alibaba Group raised $25 billion in its 2014 debut in New York.

More details have now emerged showing that Xiaomi Corp. isn’t the only beneficiary of the IPO. The first set of Xiaomi employees, 56 in numbers were able to pull together $11 million back in 2010 to invest in the startup. This was before Xiaomi sold a single smartphone. The story even has it that some had to dip hands into their savings and borrowed from parents with one receptionist tapped her dowry.

These lucky chaps which Bloomberg refers to as the Lucky 56 are about hitting the goldmine with the company prepping a blockbuster initial public offering. Xiaomi is presently one of the most successful smartphone makers in the world and their stake in the company may soon be worth $1 billion to $3 billion, depending on the stock sale. On the average, each of them could get $36 million.

Read More: Xiaomi Files For Hong Kong IPO, Expected To Raise At Least $10 Billion

Okay, eight years down the road, it looks easy but the road has been a tough one. The journey began with workers like Li Weixing, an ex-Microsoft Corp. engineer who was employee No. 12. When word spread back in 2010 that Lei Jun and his co-founders were racking up their own money for a venture financing round, Li and others wanted to join them. Lei Jun had hinted in an interview conducted in March that they had to let everyone in since they cant let only Weixing invest. The investments from the rank-and-file were capped at about 300,000 yuan each to limit risk and stop employees from taking out loans to invest. The employee who even took out her dowry of around 100,000 to 200,000 yuan ($16,000 to $31,000) was simply identified as employee No. 14, a receptionist now working in Xiaomi’s human resources office. That stake could be worth between $1 million and $8 million.

Read More: Xiaomi Launches The Xiaofang Smart IP Camera with Dual Camera Sensors

Collectively, the group stands to gain as much as $3 billion if Xiaomi floats 15 percent of the company at a $100 billion valuation when it goes public in Hong Kong later this year, according to calculations based on Xiaomi’s prospectus. A more conservative estimate would yield a $1.4 billion payout for the 56 employees if Xiaomi floats 25 percent of the company at a $50 billion valuation. In all, the lucky 56 employees stand to make roughly 200 times their original investment. Lei Jun and his co-founders will make even more with Lei Jun’s stake estimated to be worth $27 billion. None of this was obvious in 2010 but looking back, they’ll all be beaming with satisfaction for the life-changing decisions they all made in that tiny Beijing office.

(source)

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Xiaomi reportedly filed for an IPO in Hong Kong a couple of days back. The company is said to be expecting to raise up to $10 billion which places its valuation at $100 billion. The offer is tipped to be the largest in four years since Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd raised $25 billion in its 2014 debut in New York. However, there are reports that the company’s valuation has been scaled down.

According to the report first carried by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), the Chinese smartphone firm is now looking to IPO at a valuation of somewhere between $80 billion and $90 billion. This is coming as a surprise because it is happening even before the company gets listed. The reason for the devaluation isn’t known but there are some possible reasons for this.

In the first place, Xiaomi’s initial targets may have been overestimated especially since the company is basically a smartphone company as about 90% of its revenue from selling hardware. Although the company is trying to brand itself as an internet company with a large chunk of its revenue coming from adverts on its MIUI software, it still needs to do more to convince investors that it can translate its phone sales into big profits from associated services, Apple-style.

Read More: Xiaomi Crowdfunds Yeelight Eye Lamp Pro: Safe For Your Eyes

Another possible reason for the reduction in Xiaomi’s valuation could be the slump in the stock of tech companies since the beginning of this year. According to Sanford C. Bernstein analyst Mark Newman, the new reported valuation target is “more in line with Internet valuations… and still significantly higher than hardware valuations.” There isn’t still a date for the IPO listing but it is expected to go live in the next few months.

(source)

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After months of speculations and rumours, Xiaomi has finally filed for an IPO in Hong Kong. This marks a big win for the city of Hong Kong which has been trying to lure in tech companies to list in its stock exchange in recent times. In this regard, the city had made a few changes to its rules to allow for companies with multiple classes of shares to raise equity and this change seems to have paid off. It’s also an important milestone for Xiaomi as it opens its doors for public investors.

The IPO filings doesn’t mention the number of shares or the price per share but it is said that Xiaomi could be looking to raise at least $10 billion in its IPO. This should value the company at around $100 billion and it will likely be the biggest tech IPO of 2018.    In its filings, the company has revealed that 30% of the money raised would be used to develop its AI and IoT ecosystem, 30% would be used for R&D, and another 30% for global expansion. The remaining 10% would be used as working capital. Co-founders Lei Jun and Lin Bin will retain control of the company after the IPO through a special class of shares.

After a disappointing 2016, Xiaomi was quick to climb up the smartphone rankings ladder. In fact, yesterday’s Strategy Analytics report revealed that Xiaomi has climbed up to the fourth ranking in terms of global smartphone shipments, beating OPPO in Q1 2018. Sales in 2017 rose to 114.6 billion yuan, while the operating profit tripled to 12.2 billion yuan. The company posted a net loss of 43.9 billion yuan during this period but that was mainly because of pre-IPO preparations like issuing preferred shares to investors, making share based compensations and so on.

RELATED: Xiaomi Says Its Overall Net Profit Margin For Hardware Business Will Never Exceed 5%

Xiaomi’s IPO comes at a time when the global smartphone shipments are shrinking. Even the Chinese market has slowed down significantly. Despite this, the company has still managed to demonstrate great skill in steadily increasing its sales and revenue through changes in its offline strategy and global expansion. So, we know that the company can quickly adapt to the ever changing needs of the smartphone market.

Now that the company has filed for an IPO, expect a lot more details about its financials and operations in the coming months.

(Via)

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The Hong Kong IPO market usually sees offerings oversubscribed and the oversubscription could get as high as by hundreds of times in some cases. In most cases too, investors borrow heavily to place orders. A reference was made to China Literature Ltd.’s $1.1 billion IPO last year to explain how the Xiaomi IPO may likely affect the entire Hong Kong market. The China Literature Ltd.’s IPO locked up a third of the city’s monetary base, the South China Morning Post reported at the time. Also, an IPO offer by Online-to-offline (O2O) healthcare servicing platform, Ping An Good Doctor last week resulted in the key interbank interest rate jumping by the most in nearly a decade. A higher Hong Kong Interbank Offered Rate (Hibor) affects the cost of everything from housing mortgages to corporate loans; and if everyone’s using their margin loans to subscribe for an IPO, that can mean less money sloshing around in the city’s $5.6 trillion equity market.

Ronald Man, a strategist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in Hong Kong disclosed that a very notable increase in Hibor is expected if an IPO is very oversubscribed. Hong Kong interbank rates are already climbing after years at ultra-low levels as the city’s monetary authority buys local dollars to defend a currency peg, thereby sucking up liquidity.

Read Also: Xiaomi Will Reportedly Apply For IPO In Hong Kong Next Month

Xiaomi is yet to reveal details of its IPO but there are speculations the company may submit its IPO application this week and may be listed as early as June ending, the Hong Kong Economic Journal reported, citing unidentified people. The IPO could be the largest worldwide since Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. raised $25 billion in its 2014 debut in New York. Demand for Xiaomi’s offer is expected to be strong.

(source)

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China-based smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi is gearing up to launch its Initial Public Offering (IPO). Previous reports suggested that the company could soon launch its IPO, the latest information reveals that Xiaomi could submit the application for listing in Hong Kong in early May.

While the company has not yet officially commented on this development, Hong Kong Economic Times published an article that says that the China-based company will file an application for IPO in the beginning of May this year and the company could be valued somewhere around $65 billion to $70 billion.

The latest report from Hong Kong Economic Times suggests that the Xioami could be valued around $65-70 billion but the earlier reports related to the China-based company’s IPO suggested that Xiaomi plans an IPO with $100 billion valuation, which could make it the largest tech float of 2018.

The company has reportedly roped in Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Group for its initial public offering (IPO). Along with them, Credit Suisse Group AG and Deutsche Bank AG have also been selected by the company to work on the IPO.

Earlier, Xiaomi’s Senior Vice President Wang Xiang said in an interview with CNBC that the company is presently gathering the “resources” it needs for a major push in the U.S., which many believed as a hint for preparing for the IPO. A successful IPO will grant Xiaomi the much-needed inflow of funds to expand further into newer markets.

Read More: Xiaomi Black Shark Gaming Phone Officially Unveiled with Snapdragon 845, 8 GB RAM, Shark GamePad

Xiaomi was valued at around $45 billion when it last raised a funding round in 2014. Once, it held the title of the world’s most valuable technology company. Xioami also successfully achieved its annual revenue target of 100 billion Yuan ($15 billion) in October 2017. The company broke its target by 18 percent and recorded as much as $1 billion in net profit. For 2018, Xiaomi has set a target of $2 billion in profits.

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Xiaomi, often referred to as the Apple of China, is reportedly all set to make its debut on the Hong Kong stock exchange later this year. Completing a successful IPO is never easy, and neither is the road after an IPO. Companies get valued at billions of dollars overnight and Xiaomi’s expected valuation is as high as $100 billion, which would make it the biggest IPO ever. Everyone remembers how Alibaba’s $25 billion IPO surprised the market back in 2014 but Xiaomi could be an even bigger success story.

Xiaomi’s growth has been impressive so far, and the company is one of the top 5 smartphone manufacturers in the world. But the company’s success has been driven by its low-end and mid-range best sellers — a section of the market which has one of the lowest margins. To gain the confidence of its investors, Xiaomi needs to prove that it can take on the big players in the market as well. This is exactly why the Mi Mix 2S could be an important release for the company this year.

Xiaomi flagships were big on hardware, but camera was one area where buyers were often left disappointed. As compared to competitors like Samsung, Apple, and even Huawei, Xiaomi’s camera performance wasn’t up to mark. This meant that despite its top of the line hardware, camera enthusiasts had to pick another brand flagship. I agree that the pricing justified the features and buyers were often willing to accept average camera performance for an overall great phone, but this further established the fact that only the big players were capable of delivering the best camera performance. Given that Xiaomi lacked the big bucks to spend on R&D unlike Samsung, Apple, or Huawei, this was going to be a big problem for its adoption in the high-end segment. In developed markets, this was an even bigger issue, as most high-end users are either Samsung or Apple loyalists.

So until now, the company didn’t have a flagship that could sway these loyalists. But things change with the entry of the Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S. On paper, the phone boasts of high-end camera hardware, a 12MP dual camera setup (wide angle + telephoto lens) with 1.4µ pixel size. That’s pretty large and could be pivotal in capturing brighter and clearer low-light photos. This along with a hardware level multi-frame noise reduction implementation will help Mi Mix 2S capture clear low-light photos.

At the Mi Mix 2S launch event, there were several instances where Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun gladly compared its newcomer with the iPhone X. In all instances, Mi Mix 2S won (not surprising given that it was Xiaomi’s event), including in the low-light performance category. Further, Xiaomi, like most other big brands is relying on AI to improve photos taken with the Mi Mix 2S. Scene recognition is going to be an important feature since it promises to make your photos better after identifying what’s in the picture. This basically makes your camera smarter as it knows where to increase saturation and where to reduce it to ensure you get the best shots. If this works as well as advertised on the Mi Mix 2S, it’ll definitely make the photos more lively, adjusted according to the scene.

Camera has always been one of the hardest departments to master in a smartphone and if a company manages to crack this area, it significantly changes the perception of the brand. The DxOMark rating of the Mi Mix 2S is definitely a confidence booster, with the Mi Mix 2S scoring 97 in its overall rating and 101 in the photos department, rivalling the iPhone X!.

RELATED: Lei Jun Reveals Xiaomi Now Owns 6,324 Patents, 53% Of Them Are Outside China

Xiaomi has already cracked the Indian market, becoming the number one smartphone manufacturer in terms of shipments in the past couple of quarters. Now, it’s looking to take on other markets in Europe with a similar strategy. Offlines stores are becoming an important tool to improve brand awareness, and the company is slowly but steadily increasing its footprint in the European market. More Mi stores are coming up in countries like Spain and Italy and the company is already in talks with the biggest carrier in the region, Vodafone, confirms Global Spokesperson, Wang Xiang. With Huawei’s popularity expanding in Europe, Xiaomi will have to take on the brand’s flagships this year, the Huawei P20 and P20 Pro, with the Mi Mix 2S. Considering how the P20 starts at a whopping $800, while the Mi Mix 2S starts at around $525, the Mi Mix 2S could be an instant hit, even among those who are looking for a great camera performance.

The US market is a confirmed target for Xiaomi and Lei Jun has already said that we can expect a launch sometime by the end of 2018 or early 2019. The Mi Mix series would be key to take on the big players in the region. However, it’s likely that the company has a low key entry in the US with an initial offering of the Redmi Note series, bringing in the big guns later. Still, if it aims to compete in the high-end segment in the country, it would likely be via Mi Mix 2S or even Mi Mix 3 (a successor is expected later this year).

RELATED: Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S vs Mi Mix 2: We Go Hands On With The Two Phones Side By Side

Unlike the Chinese, internationally, customers prefer a clean and non-invasive UI on their smartphones. In this regard, Xiaomi could slap Android One on the Mi Mix 2S for its entry into the US shores. It already has an Android One Mi A1 model and could extend its relationship with Google for the Mi Mix 2S too. Plus carrier tie-ups with AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile would be pivotal for its success. The company is reportedly in talks with all the four major networks and in fact, Wang Xiang is said to have met with all of their executives. So we know Xiaomi is serious about cracking the US market.

With Huawei’s setback in the region after failed tie up with AT&T earlier this year and Trump’s efforts to remove Chinese influence from US soil, things are looking harder for Xiaomi in its plan to get into the US shores. The entry could likely be delayed, but one thing’s for sure — Xiaomi will continue to look at new markets and opportunities this year to expand its presence and prove its ability to generate sustainable profits to its investors.

The Mi Mix 2S is definitely the best smartphone released by the company till date and its camera performance further boosts our confidence in the company’s ability to take on the big conglomerates that dominate the market.

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Xiaomi already sees some sale from the U.S, having partnered with Amazon.com where some of its products are on offers such as the Mi A1, the company’s only Android One smartphone and the Android TV Box. However, a full entrance into the U.S market is not possible without a partnership with one of the four major U.S carriers. That is because most of the annual phone sales in the U.S are usually sold by the carriers. A previous rumour which emerged several weeks back had hinted that Xiaomi was in negotiation with Verizon and AT&T over such a deal several months back but its large-scale U.S. plans remain unrealized.

The chances that Xiaomi will make headway in this regard are pretty slim considering the difficult Huawei is facing in its bid to enter the market. Huawei’s effort is facing rejection by the U.S authorities who feared user data can get compromised by the Chinese government. Fellow Chinese firm ZTE is also facing the same issue with its products including its telecommunications equipment. But then, Xiaomi may just be lucky.

Read Also: Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro May Become Project Treble Compatible With Latest Android 8.1 Oreo Update

Apart from that the Chinese tech giant is also reportedly planning to launch its IPO get which could help its bid to enter the market. Wang Xiang may have confirmed such rumours when he hinted that the company is gathering resources. Xiaomi is said to be planning a $100 billion valuation which could make it the largest tech float of 2018. The recent report also claims the company may likely use Hong Kong as its IPO host and file to have its shares listed on the public market in the second half of the year.

(source)

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According to the latest reports, Xiaomi — the China-based technology company, has selected Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Group for its planned initial public offering (IPO). Along with them, Credit Suisse Group AG and Deutsche Bank AG have also been selected to work on the IPO.

The report, which comes from Bloomberg, cites people with direct knowledge of the matter as its source. The report further adds that the China-based company is targeting a valuation of $100 billion. Earlier, there were rumours suggesting Xiaomi seeking $200 billion valuation, but that is highly unlikely.

However, reports suggest that the company is still considering its Chinese underwriters, as well as the timing and location of the share sale. Xiaomi’s IPO could be the biggest IPO since Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s $25 billion debut.

Xiaomi was valued at around $45 billion when it last raised a funding round in 2014. Once, it held the title of the world’s most valuable technology company. Xioami also successfully achieved its annual revenue target of 100 billion Yuan ($15 billion) in October 2017. The company broke its target by 18 percent and recorded as much as $1 billion in net profit. For 2018, Xiaomi has set a target of $2 billion in profits.

The China-based technology company bounced back from a disastrous 2016. The company, which mastered the online sales model, is now focusing on the offline channels to boost its sales. The company has strengthened its position in emerging markets like India, where it is now the largest smartphone vendor, ahead of Samsung.

In line with the company’s renewed strategy, Xiaomi is now looking to establish its presence in the offline market. Having launched more than 300 Mi Stores in China, the tech giant plans to open over 1,000 physical stores in different Chinese cities by the year 2020.

There are also reports suggesting that Xiaomi is also planning to enter the US market and is currently in talks with some network carriers to sell its flagship devices from this year. While the company is in talks with AT&T and Verizon, there is no assurance if the deal will happen.

Recently, Huami — the makers of the Amazfit smartwatch line as well as Xiaomi’s Mi Band line, filed for a $150 million IPO in the United States. The company filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday.

Read More: Counterpoint Posts Q3 2017 Market Stats For All Regions; Xiaomi Is Fastest Growing Brand!

In its filings, Huami reveals that Xiaomi, which owns 19.3% of the company’s shares, is the sole customer and distribution channel for Xiaomi wearables. Sales of Xiaomi products contributed 97.1% in 2015, 92.1% in 2016, and 82.4% for the nine months ended on September 30 in 2017 to its revenue.

(Source)

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According to recent data, Hong Kong raised $32.8 billion in equity capital in 2017, which is the lowest increase since 2008. But Hong Kong remains one the biggest equity capital-raising centers in the world, and now it is trying to recover. One of the plans is allowing dual-class shares just like New York exchange. Chinese tech companies like Xiaomi are attracted by the dual-class share structures and that is why they usually choose New York for their Initial Public Offerings (IPOs).

So Hong Kong will adopt dual-class shares, and it is expecting a $100 billion IPO for Xiaomi in 2018. According to bankers’ estimations, Xiaomi could be valued at up to $100 billion and this would make it the best valued Chinese tech company IPO. At the second place next year, there would be Lufax which is valued at $18.5 billion dollars: the difference is huge.

Tucker Highfield, the head of equity capital markets syndicate for the Asia Pacific at Credit Suisse, stated that over the next couple of years there is a good chance of $500+ billion market capitalization in the tech sector in China that could go public. Actually, regarding IPOs, Hong Kong ranks fourth globally, behind New York, Shanghai, and Mumbai’s National Stock Exchanges. Xiaomi, a single company, may contribute to change the situation in 2018. A 100 billion dollars IPO will grant Xiaomi the much-needed inflow of funds to expand further into newer markets.

(Source)

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Earlier, it was reported that Xiaomi is considering an IPO as early as the second half of 2018. According to the people aware of the development, who remains unnamed, Xiaomi is currently in talks with investment banks about a possible initial public offering as soon as next year, and Hong Kong is believed to be the most likely destination.

A successful IPO may raise around $5 billion in cash for the company, that could help Xiaomi to fuel the expansion. The China-based company last raised its funding round in 2014, at a valuation of $46 billion.

Lately, Xiaomi has been climbing up the ladder as one of the largest smartphone vendors. This year, the company registered a spike in terms of sales, after witnessing disappointing sales in the past year. Last year, the company was trailing behind the likes of Huawei, Oppo and Vivo in terms of sales.

Not only in China, the company is also capturing the smartphone market of India, which is touted as the world’s largest smartphone market. It recently was ranked the leading smartphone vendor in India, along with Samsung. Both the companies managed to grab 23.5 percent of Indian smartphone market, according to IDC.

Recently, it was reported that Xiaomi has overtaken Samsung in terms of smartphone sales, thus becoming the largest smartphone vendor in India. This comes after the company started focusing on offline sales of its smartphones along with online sales. It is also investing heavily in Mi Stores in India as well as in China.

Currently, there are around 11 Mi Home stores in India. But, Xiaomi previously said that it is planning to open 100 Mi Homes across India in the next two years. Last month, Xiaomi announced its third manufacturing facility in India, in partnership with Hipad Technologies. The latest facility is located in Noida, Uttar Pradesh and will be used for manufacturing power banks. Earlier, the company had established two facilities in Andhra Pradesh, in partnership with Foxconn, for making smartphones.

Read More: Xiaomi Redmi 5, Redmi 5 Plus Sneak Preview Images Officially Revealed

Apart from China and India, the company is now also focusing on emerging markets, including Russia and Indonesia. The company also seems to be interested in establishing its presence in the United States, where it is currently selling accessories.

Recently, the company’s founder and CEO Lei Jun revealed that Xiaomi is aiming to ship 90 million smartphones by the end of this year. Earlier, Earlier, Lei Jin had said that Xiaomi aims to ship out 100 million smartphones in 2018.

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Recently, there was a rumor going around on the internet regarding an equity investment opportunity in the Chinese company, Xiaomi. Naturally, this rumor spread like fire.

According to Chinese media, the document leaked about the investment opportunity from CITIC Capital Projects revealed that Xiaomi was looking to raise about $110 million USD in equity investments for subscription of 0.45% stake in the company. This would have valued the company around $24.4 billion, much, much lower than the earlier valuation of $45 billion.

Considering the spread of this news, Xiaomi made an official statement saying that the company had no plans for an IPO. In fact, the company stressed that it has over 10 billion Yuan in cash at the moment, which comes to nearly $1.54 billion USD. Xiaomi further added that it is under no financial pressure and has no plans for new financing or IPO offerings. So, the rumors about the document from CITIC Capital are not true.

Xiaomi CEO, Lei Jun also stressed at an event that the company was not looking for financing rounds as it is carrying over (10 billion Yuan) $1.54 billion USD in cash.

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