Stronger by Paying Salaries and I Have 1 Billion Employees

Faced with Zhou Hongyi’s provocation, Lei Yijun gritted his teeth and made an immediate decision: the operating systems for the Xiaomi 2A and Xiaomi 2S phones must all be switched to Aurora OS.

The MIUI system had brought him nothing but shame!

Meanwhile, He Boting, who had secured the license for the Orange Z1 instruction set architecture, rushed back to Shencheng City overnight. He planned to conduct a comprehensive validation of its power efficiency, performance, and level of integration.

Compared to ARM, Orange Technology’s architecture licensing fee was a bargain—a one-time fee of 20 million Hua Yuan, plus a 1% royalty.

If the Orange Z1 could meet the Hisilicon Chip’s technical requirements, Huawei would abandon ARM’s CPU architecture and switch to the Orange Z1 to reduce costs.

For many years, the feeling of being held in a chokehold by ARM was not a pleasant one.

Apple shared Huawei’s sentiment. ARM was ruthless with its pricing, and because of that, Apple had to pay ARM seven to eight hundred million US Dollars in patent fees every year.

Jobs couldn’t stand it, and naturally, Cook couldn’t either.

Starting in 2011, Apple began work on developing its own instruction set. However, due to the immense difficulty, it was never able to escape its dependence on ARM’s instruction set architecture.

The ”Swift architecture” that Apple launched was, in essence, still a derivative of the ARM instruction set architecture.

To put it bluntly, they still had to pay ARM!

When Cook learned of the Orange Z1’s existence, his mind immediately started working. Based on his experience, the fact that even the Huake Science Association and Huawei Company were willing to fork over money for a license meant that its coding efficiency, flexibility, and compatibility were, at the very least, no worse than MIPS.

”Taylor, notify Isabel at the Asian Region office. Have her send someone to Orange Technology headquarters to purchase the Orange Z1 architecture license.”

Cook instructed his assistant after a long moment of contemplation.

Isabel was the English name for Ge Yue, the Managing Director of Apple Asia. With her on the case, they could secure the Orange Z1 technology license as quickly as possible.

As for whether the Orange Z1 could meet Apple’s chip development requirements, Cook didn’t really care.

After all, an annual licensing fee of three million US Dollars was just a drop in the bucket for Apple.

’And what if Orange Technology could bring him a surprise?’

「Meanwhile.」

Xucheng City District, in the top-floor banquet hall of the Sky Garden.

The room was resplendent, spacious, and bright. Dozens of impeccably dressed men and women drifted between the tables, wine glasses in hand, their faces flush with smiles and wine.

Chen Yansen, who was sitting at his seat, clinked glasses with Cao Dahua and asked, ”Been to the school?”

”Not much has changed. I just had a few cups of tea with Old Tang,” Cao Dahua said with a chuckle. His way of addressing Tang Qingshan had changed from ”Principal Tang” to ”Old Tang.”

”I won’t be going to the annual parties for the Shencheng City and Luzhou factories. You and Cai Jingming can host them,” Chen Yansen said, gently swirling the wine in his glass.

”Huh? Boss, the employees have been looking forward to this all year. They’re waiting for you to give everyone a pep talk at the annual party,”

Cao Dahua was stunned for a moment, then began to flatter him.

”The Q4 bonuses have all been paid out. Why do I need to pump you up? It’s not like you’re balloons! Alright, that’s enough. I trust you to handle things.”

Chen Yansen raised his hand as if to pat him on the shoulder.

Seeing this, Old Cao bent his waist and dipped a shoulder, instantly making himself a few centimeters shorter to make it easier for Boss Chen to reach.

Chen Yansen chuckled in spite of himself, then rested his hand on Old Cao’s shoulder and instructed in a serious tone, ”In my heart, you’re far more important than Orange Technology, more important than Zhou Shouzhi. Manage the factories well for me. Don’t let me down.”

Hearing this, Cao Dahua’s face flushed with emotion, his eyes glistening with tears. He nodded emphatically and promised, ”No problem! You can count on me, Boss.”

Chen Yansen smiled, calmly withdrew his hand, and walked to the next table. He addressed Xiao Jun from Gaode Map with a serious expression:

”The importance of the electronic navigation software to the group is far greater than you can imagine. It’s more important than Pinbei Mall, more important even than Orange Technology. Keep up the good work. Of all the project leaders, I’m most optimistic about you.”

Xiao Jun agreed profusely, a warm feeling spreading through his chest.

After exchanging a few pleasantries, Chen Yansen approached Liao Wei of Cloud Speed Express. ”The reason I’m strictest with you,” he said, ”is because I have the most faith in your talent for operations and management.”

By the time he’d made his rounds, President Chen hadn’t just given them a pep talk; he’d injected them with stimulants. He had also served up a platter of grand promises, leaving the group so full they couldn’t even drink their wine.

”Brother Sen hasn’t changed a bit,” Wang Zihao said, grinning.

”President Wang, should we go over and offer the boss a toast?” Hu Weiyi suggested in a low voice, nudging Wang Zihao’s arm.

Compared to major projects like Orange Technology, Pinbei Mall, and Cloud Speed Express, OFO Bike was just a small project with a daily revenue of 300,000 Hua Yuan. She wouldn’t dare just wait around.

Anyone with the slightest bit of sense knew you had to take the initiative.

”Sure,” Wang Zihao said. Seeing an opening, he squeezed through the crowd with Hu Weiyi.

”Boss, thank you for leading us all the way. In the new year, we will definitely continue to work even harder,” Hu Weiyi said with a beaming smile.

”Brother Sen, here’s to your wealth rolling in and an annual income of over a hundred million.” In the entire banquet hall, only Wang Zihao dared to joke with him like that.

”President Hu, Zihao should have mentioned to you that Penguin, Gao Ling, and Redwood Capital have all expressed interest in investing in OFO Bike. When the time comes, the group will dispatch a team to assist you in completing your Series A financing. How far the project goes from there is up to you.”

Chen Yansen said casually.

”Thank you, Boss. I understand,” Hu Weiyi replied with a nod.

”Are you getting used to Hang City?” Chen Yansen asked casually, hooking an arm around Wang Zihao’s neck.

”Everything’s great, except the food isn’t to my taste. Offline business is much harder than online. Even though the OFO bikes have smart locks and GPS tracking chips, we’ve still lost over 300 of them. It’s so damn ridiculous.”

Wang Zihao took the opportunity to sit down, speaking through gritted teeth.

”Any business that involves dealing with people is never simple,” Chen Yansen said calmly. ”When you truly understand human nature, you’ll be able to stand on your own two feet.”

”Brother Sen, I’m happy just working for you. Why would I need to stand on my own?” Wang Zihao scratched his head, taking the opportunity to declare his loyalty.

”I don’t keep stupid people around,” Chen Yansen replied.

For example, if Liao Wei couldn’t keep up with the company’s pace of development, Chen Yansen would kick him to the curb without a second thought.

”...” Wang Zihao’s face fell. He said weakly, ”Brother Sen, you don’t have to be so blunt.”

”I have faith in your abilities,” Chen Yansen said with a hearty laugh. ”Regardless, you’ve spent two years learning from me. If you haven’t made the slightest bit of progress, it’s my reputation that takes the hit.”

”Brother Sen, what valuation do you think OFO can get then?” Wang Zihao pressed.

”Have you forgotten all your finance 101?” Chen Yansen shot him a look, asking irritably.

”Based on the current average daily revenue, the annual revenue is 108 million. Using the price-to-sales ratio for valuation, a conservative estimate is 500 million, and an optimistic one is 800 million. But DiDi Bike got a 2 billion valuation after deploying just fifty thousand bicycles. Using the industry comparison method, OFO’s reasonable valuation should be over 2 billion.”

”I haven’t forgotten the financial models, but the two valuation methods produce vastly different results, which is why I’m asking,” Wang Zihao said, his face plastered with a grin.

”Isn’t that simple? Go with whichever price is higher,” Chen Yansen explained unhurriedly. ”As long as the investors accept it, you could even quote 10 billion. That would also be a ’reasonable offer’.”

Wang Zihao nodded, looking thoughtful.

After a few more rounds of drinks, the night outside had grown deep.

Chen Yansen glanced at his watch and signaled for everyone to disperse. They had a meeting the next day, so ending at ten-thirty was perfect.

”Boss, I’ve prepared some sweet soup,” Ye Qiuping said softly in front of the hotel entrance.

”Forget it. I’ve been having too much sweet soup lately; I’ve even gained some weight.”

Chen Yansen gave a perfunctory reply, then got into his Rolls-Royce and had Xiaoli drive him back to the Delta.

「The next morning. Zhuxianzhuang Science and Technology Park.」

Building Six, conference room.

Chen Yansen sat at the head of the table while Huang Zheng presided over the year-end summary and debriefing meeting. Zhang Wenbo, Xiang Pengfei, Hu Yun, Zhuang Rui, Cai Qiming, Fei Qiweng, Chen Peng, Song Yuncheng, and the others were seated on his left and right.

”As per tradition, Hu Yun will go first,” Huang Zheng said calmly.

As the director of the Data Department, it was indeed more logical for Hu Yun to be the first to report.

”Boss, Mr. Huang, let’s first look at Pinbei’s core data. The annual GMV was 317.4 billion Hua Yuan, a year-over-year increase of 2,486.7% from 2011, ranking us second in the industry.”

Hu Yun opened his PowerPoint, connected it to the projection screen, and began to speak.

Pinbei launched on November 18, 2011. Its total sales for that entire year were 12.27 billion, hence the extremely high growth rate.