438: Chapter 438: Successful Financing Leads to Further Mention of Rice Auto

"Can you do it?"

Lu Mingyuan had originally made up his mind, but a trace of hesitation suddenly flashed across his face.

He pointed to himself, then pointed to the Transsion offline store next door, and then looked at Wilson with a questioning expression—asking him to take on Transsion?

This…

He couldn't miss out on this money. After all, his family could no longer help him, and he certainly couldn't miss this opportunity. So, he picked up the document, flipped to the last page, and readily signed his name.

"Whether I can do it or not, just watch and see."

He returned the document to Wilson. Anyway, there were no targets listed on the document; he would just take the money first.

Free money—it would be a waste not to take it.

Wilson picked it up and looked at the signature, a faint smile appearing on the corner of his mouth. This dog was much easier to train than the one from Xiaomi.

"Mr. Lu, happy cooperation."

"Don't call me Mr. Lu anymore; just call me Xiao Lu. From now on, Ruiyi belongs to Silver Lake, and I'm just here to do the work."

Wilson patted his shoulder again, still maintaining a condescending air...

And Lu Mingyuan still kept a smiling face.

"Mr. Wilson, when will the support staff arrive? Now that I have the money, I want to make a big move. Honor is about to release a new product, and we must intercept them."

Wang Yaxin looked at him and grinned; this young man really couldn't keep his cool!

However, his grudge against Transsion could be considered as deep as a blood feud, so being anxious was understandable.

"Rest assured! A new batch of products is arriving soon. Given the reputation of the Snapdragon 8 series, we have prepared the very affordable 6 series for you. The screens and flash memory are all the latest... Building a luxury mid-range product is far better than fighting hand-to-hand with Transsion in the flagship market."

A flash of disdain also crossed Lu Mingyuan's eyes, but he quickly hid it.

After all, he was still too weak right now and had to listen to these people.

"Thank you, Mr. Wilson, I will follow your lead in everything."

After Wilson left, Lu Mingyuan smashed the things on his desk. It was truly a case of a tiger fallen to the plains being bullied by dogs; when had he, the young master Lu, ever encountered such treatment before?

A small investment bank—not even the head of the investment bank—dared to speak to him like that! They really didn't want to keep their jobs!

But after smashing everything, he slumped back into his chair. After all, the momentum was gone, and Transsion was the cause of it all.

And once their people moved in, he wouldn't be able to throw tantrums like this anymore!

That's right, his cowardice was just a disguise; he, Lu Mingyuan, also had real talent.

Of course, it was a good thing Shen Fei wasn't here, otherwise he would definitely laugh at him. His little bit of market share was thanks to the carriers and a portion of the offline stores; otherwise, he would have starved to death a long time ago!

Real talent, my foot! He should just go to the fields and dig up a couple of sweet potatoes!

...

Wilson walked out of the Ruiyi Mobile office, sat in the car, and dialed Thompson's number.

"Boss, we have finished talking."

"Did he show any unusual emotions?"

Thompson was still a bit curious; after all, that was 85% of the shares. Any ambitious founder would never agree to such terms!

"He signed. He agreed very readily without any haggling. This person is much more straightforward than Lei Jun!"

"Is he obedient? I'm asking if he has any other hidden agendas!"

Wilson wanted to say he was an obedient dog, but he thought about it carefully. After confirming repeatedly and ensuring there were no problems, he spoke:

"Sir, he is very obedient. He is just like a starving dog; give it a bone, and it will do anything. Furthermore, the hatred he has for Shen Fei doesn't look like an act, and he urged us to hurry up and get the personnel in place—he wants to strike back in the mid-to-low-end market..."

Thompson didn't pay attention to Lu Mingyuan's plan; his focus was on the "hatred."

"Tell me more, as this is our key layout for the future."

"Sir, would you believe it? He said that as long as he can slap Shen Fei in the face, he would even commit treason!"

"Very good!"

Thompson laughed on the other end of the phone, and the slight hesitation in his heart was completely put to rest!

"When it comes to training dogs, you have to find one that's starving! Although Xiaomi has hatred, it's too well-fed. Once it's full, it starts haggling with you. This one from Ruiyi is just right."

Hearing that his boss was satisfied, Wilson also let go of his worries. But looking at the investigation report on Ruiyi Mobile, it wasn't just a simple matter of having problems.

It was simply riddled with holes!

"Regarding this matter, there is one thing I must mention. Ruiyi's foundation is too thin; last year's revenue was practically non-existent, and the team has been poached left and right. Money alone isn't enough; we need to allocate a large amount of resources."

"The engineers have already set sail! Furthermore, the priority supply agreement with Qualcomm has already been drafted, with prices 10% lower than Xiaomi's. The system they use will be deeply customized by Google to perfectly suit the habits of the Chinese people."

"Then our 'God-Making Project' can begin."

"Begin!"

The so-called "God-Making Project" was to feed Ruiyi into becoming a second Xiaomi within three years. While blocking the Chinese supply chain, they would take it public and start harvesting leeks.

After all, their money was useful; it wasn't invested for nothing.

...

On December 10th, Xiaomi's official Weibo also issued a formal response to this matter: "Xiaomi Technology officially announces that it has received a 4.8 billion strategic investment from Silver Lake Capital, with this round of valuation at 12 billion USD.

This represents that Xiaomi's 'Person-Car-Home' strategy has once again been recognized by the capital market.

The funds from this round will be used for technology research and development as well as the expansion of brand-building businesses.

Effective immediately, Xiaomi is officially upgrading the A-level project 'Dami Auto' to S+ level. On top of last year's 10 billion base R&D investment, an additional 3 billion USD will be added to initiate comprehensive R&D.

The Dami Auto project is fully accelerating, and the first mass-produced vehicle is expected to roll off the assembly line in 2019.

To achieve this goal, we are sincerely inviting excellent talent from around the world to join us. The salary standard starts at double the industry rate for the same position, with no upper limit. The recruitment notice has been posted; we are waiting for you!"

At the same time, Xiaomi's publicity team was also urgently creating buzz. After all, there had been no news about Dami Auto since the last financing round, and it simply couldn't compare to the progress on Transsion's side...

So this time, they went all the way in one step.

In just 5 minutes, it successfully dominated three trending topics.

#Dami Auto Increases Investment Again#

#After Researching for a Year, Money Power Still Works Best#

#Xiaomi 4.8 Billion USD Financing#

"Holy sh*t, did I read that right? 4.8 billion USD? Wasn't the valuation only 7 billion last year? Lei Jun has really done something big!"

"10 billion financing; this should be able to make this year's top ranking list!"

"After the 10 billion financing last year, everyone was saying we were just building cars via PowerPoint. Let's see who dares to say that now?"

"3 billion USD thrown into any industry is top-tier. With this much money, you could just buy several leading enterprises. We're playing with a hacked account now!"

"Dami Auto, Born for Fever, charge!"

"For the guy above, it's fine if the phone is 'Born for Fever,' but for the car, absolutely not. Safety first!"