Tech Giants: Starting from Bankrupt Companies

185: Chapter 185 Star FeastFebruary 11, Afternoon - Evening, Shenzhen Universiade Center Stadium · Backstage

At 4:30 PM, Lin Xiaoya roared into her walkie-talkie: ’Lighting crew! I want the ”Galaxy Pouring” effect, not ”Streetlight Illumination”! Redo it!’

The 28-year-old had once been the youngest director of a major TV station’s Spring Festival Gala, and this year, she was poached by Spark with triple her annual salary. At this moment, she was wearing black work clothes, her hair tied into a crisp ponytail; there were bloodshot eyes, but even more brilliance within them.

’Sister Xiaoya, drone formation final rehearsal!’ The assistant ran over.

’Let’s go.’

Outside the stadium, one thousand drones were lined up, waiting for orders. Technicians were performing the final checks.

Lin Xiaoya looked at the programming interface on her tablet: ’For the phoenix spreading wings sequence, the particle effect on the wing edges is not obvious enough. Increase the brightness by 30% and slow down the speed by 0.5 seconds.’

’But this will increase power consumption, and they might not be able to complete the full route...’

’Then change the batteries, or reduce it by fifty drones to ensure the effect.’ Lin Xiaoya was uncompromising, ’I want shock, not just making up the numbers.’

She turned and looked toward the inside of the stadium.

The stage had already been set up: in the center was a circular holographic projection platform with a diameter of twenty meters, surrounded by three layers of ring-shaped LED screens. The audience seating was divided by business sectors, and each area was issued glow bracelets in different colors — gold, blue, red, black, and silver, corresponding to the five major business sectors.

’Is the online livestream open?’ she asked.

’It’s open, current reservations... My god, 6.5 million!’ The technical director exclaimed, ’And it’s still rising!’

Lin Xiaoya took a deep breath.

The budget for this annual meeting was 1 billion. It wasn’t bragging; it was real money: the venue, equipment, programs, prizes, red envelopes... She wanted to show the whole world what the ’passion of a Chinese tech enterprise’ was.

At 5:00 PM, employees began to enter.

Thirty thousand people had flown in from all over the country and even the world. Outside the stadium, two hundred buses flowed in an endless stream, and traffic police had specifically opened a ’Spark Annual Meeting Special Lane’.

Old Wang from the Xian chip base, a fifty-year-old packaging engineer, was visiting Shenzhen for the first time. He held his work badge, his hands trembling: ’This... this is ten times bigger than our city stadium, right?’

’Engineer Wang, have fun today!’ A young colleague hugged him, ’I heard the grand prize is a Hongqi Automobile!’

’A car?!’ Old Wang widened his eyes, ’Really?’

’Really, five hundred of them.’

Old Wang swallowed his saliva. His son was getting married next year, and he was worrying about not having a car. If he won one...

Inside the arena, the lights dimmed.

The countdown began: 10, 9, 8...

Stage Center · Su Chen Enters

At 7:00 PM sharp.

The holographic projection platform lit up, and the Spark LOGO emerged from the void, slowly rotating. Then, the LOGO shattered into countless points of light, reorganizing into four big characters: Thank You For Having You.

Applause thundered.

Su Chen walked out from the side of the stage.

He wasn’t wearing a suit or a tie; he was wearing the standard deep blue work uniform of Spark, with a small flame logo embroidered on the left chest. This detail was captured in a close-up by the camera, spreading throughout the stadium and the livestream.

’Brothers and sisters, good evening.’ He spoke, his voice carrying through the surround sound system to every corner.

Simple, direct.

’This time last year, we held our annual meeting here.’ Su Chen looked at the audience, ’Last year we were sixty thousand; this year, one hundred and fifty thousand.’

The big screen behind him played a highlight video: Spark in 2017.

The company name hx1 launch event, the suspicious looks from the audience.

The 16nm chip trial production success, the engineers hugging and crying.

The Red Flag E-MINI production line, robot arms dancing.

The European EDA rescue operation, Spark experts landing at Munich airport.

’This year, some said we were crazy, some said we were bragging, some said we were dangerous.’ Su Chen paused, ’But today, all those ”some said” have become ”some say Spark is really awesome”.’

The audience roared with laughter and applause.

’I don’t like giving speeches.’ Su Chen continued, ’So tonight, I will only talk about three things.’

He held up his first finger: ’First, Spark is not mine; it belongs to everyone sitting here. It is the software engineers still debugging code at 3:00 AM, the technicians staring at the production line for twenty-four hours straight, the project managers who haven’t been home for seven days to rush a project, the negotiators holding meetings across time zones in Europe... It is you.’

The second finger: ’Second, we did a good job this year. The specific numbers will be announced by finance tomorrow. But I know many of you care more about another number — the year-end bonus. I promise, I won’t let everyone down.’

The third finger: ’Third, tonight, not for anything else, just to have a blast!’

’Yeah!!!’ The whole stadium erupted.

Su Chen smiled, the first time tonight: ’Then no more nonsense, let’s get started!’

The host took the stage; it was a combination of a former CCTV host and a popular actress — Spark had invited them both.

’The first round of the lucky draw, starting now!’ The female host shouted, ’The prize: 1,500 of the latest drones, market price 5,999 yuan!’

The big screen began to scroll through employee IDs.

The numbers jumped rapidly and finally stopped: 047382.

’Xian chip base, packaging and testing department, Wang Jianguo!’ The male host read the name.

Backstage, Old Wang was stunned until his colleague pushed him: ’Engineer Wang, it’s you! It’s you!’

He stood up trembling, and the spotlight hit him. This Old Master Craftsman who had worked for thirty years suddenly had tears welling up in his eyes.

’I... my son likes drones the most...’ he choked out.

The camera zoomed in on his face, broadcasting it to the whole country via the livestream.

The bullet comments flooded the screen:

’Old Master Craftsman, you’ve worked hard!’

’This is the real year-end bonus’

’Spark is so warm’

The second round: 3,000 company name hx1 Pro phones.

The third round: 1,000 of the latest laptops.

Every round of the lucky draw triggered a wave of cheers. In the online livestream, the Spark internal app synced the draw, and employees all over the country in factories, offices, and at home were staring at their phone screens.

At the Shenzhen R&D center, a 27-year-old AI algorithm engineer named Xiao Li won a phone. He jumped up and hugged his colleague: ’Just in time, my mom’s phone is broken!’

’Treat us!’

’Definitely!’

The atmosphere grew hotter and hotter.

At 9:00 PM, the grand prize.

The stage lights all dimmed, leaving only a single spotlight on the host.

’Next is tonight’s grand prize.’ The male host slowed his voice, ’The prize is...’

The big screen flashed the outline of a car.

’Red Flag E-MINI, one unit!’

’Five hundred units!’

The stadium exploded.

It truly exploded — the roar almost blew the roof off.

The IDs began to scroll, stopping at ten at a time, and the big screen displayed ten names and photos.

’Shenzhen Electronics Division, Zhang Yue!’

’Imperial Capital Semiconductor Research Institute, Chen Ming!’

’Changchun Automobile R&D Center, Liu Fang!’

...

Every time a name was read, a section of employees would scream.

When the 387th unit was drawn, the ID was: 001523.

’Headquarters, Human Resources Department, Shen Nanpeng!’

The spotlight hit the front row — CFO Shen Nanpeng was sitting there, dumbfounded.

’Director Shen, come on stage to receive the prize!’ The host laughed and shouted.

Shen Nanpeng went on stage in a daze, still muttering while taking the car key model: ’This... does this count as a job-related expense? I have to pay taxes on this, right?’

The audience laughed like crazy.

Livestream bullet comments:

’The CFO won a car given out by his own company’

’You couldn’t even write this script’

’Director Shen: I was handing out money until my hands were soft, and it turns out the car was given to me?’

Su Chen also laughed off-stage and said to Luo Qinghe beside him: ’Old Shen almost fought me to the death over the year-end bonus budget these past two days. Now he should be balanced.’

Luo Qinghe nodded: ’He called me last night and said, ”1.5 billion in cash red envelopes, that’s too extravagant.” I said, ”The employees’ dedication is worth this.”’

The two looked at each other and smiled.