21: Year-end bonus

As 2012 quietly arrived and the Spring Festival approached, the entire Red Star Company was immersed in a festive atmosphere.

This was the first festive year-end for Red Star since the passing of the Old President Chen.

Because word had it that Chen Chen was going to give all employees a year-end bonus.

Within a few months of the Red Star 1st Generation's release and sale, sales had already surpassed 4 million units. Recently, it was slightly affected because the production ramp-up for the da mi 1st generation had ended, and large-scale supply had begun.

It was no big deal.

The Shine 1st Generation, priced at 799, had reached 7 million shipments in just over half a year in obscure markets.

The founders of Pinduoduo were smiling so hard they could barely keep their eyes open.

Even though nearly 200 million yuan had been poured into subsidies for this phone.

But that was investors' money, meant to be burned; what did it have to do with them?

After entering the twelfth lunar month, Chen Chen had been thinking about how to continue unifying the company. After much thought, he realized he didn't have much eloquence for speeches and couldn't give the employees a shot of adrenaline.

The only way was—giving out money!

This was probably the best way to motivate the employees.

Sure enough, early in the morning, Chen Chen held a high-level meeting in the conference room.

The meeting had only one theme: giving out money!

"In the six months since I returned to the company, I am very grateful for everyone's help, which allowed Red Star to get back on track. For today's meeting, we won't talk about the outlook for 2012 or KPIs; just two words—giving money."

"I'm not a stingy miser like Zhou Bapi. I've seen everyone's hard work, especially the members of our OS interface team, the hardware development team, and of course, our silently dedicated R&D department."

"Since the company only turned a profit in the second half of this year, the year-end bonus might not be as generous as you imagine!"

After Chen Chen finished speaking, there was silence in the conference room. Everyone was waiting to hear exactly how much "not as generous" meant.

Was it just a few thousand as a gesture, or more?

"This time, we have sufficient funds on our books, so I plan to set aside a portion as year-end benefits for everyone. At the same time, I hope everyone continues to work hard next year and contributes to Red Star's development."

With a "whoosh," the conference room was instantly drowned in applause.

Chen Chen didn't know that because of Old Man Chen's passing last year, there was no year-end bonus at all. Even when Old Man Chen was around, there were never enough funds to give out such generous year-end bonuses.

Moreover, there were many managers back then, and the lion's share would have certainly gone to them.

The current new management consisted mostly of people with technical backgrounds, and they knew what the previous year-end bonuses at Red Star were like.

Furthermore, everyone believed that as Red Star grew, Chen Chen would certainly provide even more generous bonuses and various benefits.

"This year, we'll hold a simple Annual Gala. We'll have a meal together and hold a lucky draw. After working for a year, let's relax a bit."

After Chen Chen finished speaking, everyone started talking at once about the Annual Gala, gradually fleshing out the plan.

Last year, when Old Man Chen passed away, the whole company was in chaos, and Chen Chen was indifferent; there was no mood to organize an Annual Gala!

"Finally, I hope this year-end bonus can be fair, just, and transparent. Please don't complain about the amount. I believe that as Red Star develops, I will definitely give out more bonuses next year."

After a round of applause, the meeting ended. However, announcements were soon posted throughout the company, and every employee could calculate their approximate year-end bonus based on the content.

Clips of Chen Chen talking about the year-end bonus also began circulating in various departmental groups within the company.

With Red Star employees intentionally or unintentionally leaking the news, word that the nearly bankrupt Red Star was giving out year-end bonuses spread quickly online.

It immediately trended on various platforms.

As the Spring Festival approached in China, many company employees wanted to know how much year-end bonus they would receive.

Looking at Red Star's year-end bonus, they could only feel envy, jealousy, and hate.

"Our boss is different. When I asked him this year, he said I did well, so he'd just give me a sister-in-law."

"A company like this is practically my dream company, okay? Does your company need any more cleaners? Being a security guard is fine too. It's not for the bonus at all; I just purely love cleaning and guarding gates."

"You guys actually get a bonus; my boss just gave me a Smartisan this year!"

"Smartisan? That's not bad. My company just gave me a 'p'."

In any case, everyone was complaining about their own companies and bosses.

They are all companies, so why is the difference so huge?

However, this year-end bonus incident put Red Star on the trending list once again.

Popularity brings traffic, and traffic brings sales!

Only by constantly maintaining popularity can netizens keep remembering you.

The most successful marketing in his previous life was Xiaomi spending two million to modify its own logo, changing it from square to more rounded.

Netizens claimed they could have done it for 200 yuan, said Xiaomi had been scammed, and tagged Lei Jun to report it to the police.

It generated a massive amount of buzz online.

In fact, even if Lei Jun had spent that 2 million to buy popularity, he wouldn't have achieved such an effect.