Chapter 488 363: Net Profit of 23.97 Billion! Series A Financing, and a Guinea Pig for Aurora Future OS

As the e-commerce and logistics industries continued to expand, net profits might rise to 10 or even 20 billion in three to five years, but that figure was already the industry's ceiling.

To go any further, the only option was to expand outward into the Southeast Asian and European and American markets.

'Food delivery, courier services, and ride-hailing... the true "ironman triathlon." The employees don't make any money, and the fucking company doesn't either.'

Chen Yansen scoffed, his mind drifting to Feiyu Technology's annual financial report: over six billion in annual sales, yet revenue was over two billion. The average commission on goods was nearly 40%, and net profits were well over a billion.

'Live-streaming e-commerce is where the real money is!'

At that thought, he had the immediate urge to call Mao Chaorong in.

'Domestic hardware and network infrastructure aren't quite there yet, but we could pull it off in the North American Region.'

It didn't even matter if they had no streamers. County-level TV stations all over the country had trained legions of shopping channel hosts. In terms of professionalism, they were every bit as good as the top live-selling streamers of the future.

As Chen Yansen saw it, these people had simply been born at the wrong time. Otherwise, they could have amassed tens of millions of fans, earned a small fortune every day, and then condescendingly chided everyone, "How are my products expensive? You're just not working hard enough."

But on second thought, he realized there was no rush.

After Liao Wei finished his report, Chen Yansen took a short break. Then, he grabbed Lao Liao and, along with Cao Dahua, Xiao Jun, and the others, headed straight for the cafeteria.

At two in the afternoon, the year-end report for the Kuai Pao project kicked off, with Byte, Fast Taxi, and Gaode Map following close behind.

The next morning, Orange Pay, Today Technology, OFO Bike, Mimo, and Xiaohongshu also presented their reports one after another.

What caught Chen Yansen's attention was Orange Pay's "Collect the Five Fortunes to Split 100 Million in Cash" event, set to launch on January 25. It would be a cross-promotion with products like Fast Taxi, Kuai Pao, OFO Bike, and Pinbei. Users could earn one extra card per day by hailing a taxi, ordering food delivery, riding a bike, or shopping online.

The combined net profit from the dozen or so holding subsidiaries totaled 23.97 billion Hua Yuan!

'So many companies and such a wide scope of business, yet so little profit!'

After seeing off Pei Yi, Xiao Jun, Hu Weiyi, and the others, a sense of calm returned to Zhuxianzhuang Science and Technology Park. There were still over two weeks until Xuyuan's winter break.

Chen Yansen spent his days holed up with Mike Keller and Wu Shengyu. Development of the Celestial Craft T100 Chip was progressing by leaps and bounds. After switching to the Orange Z1 Instruction Set, the number of instructions and the circuit layout were both streamlined, improving computing speed and power efficiency by more than 40%.

In other words, the Orange Z1 outperformed ARM by 40%.

On January 10, Luo Yonghao announced Smartisan OS and released CG renders of the Smartisan T1 phone. A new product launch was expected after the Chinese New Year.

With more and more competitors entering the phone manufacturing business, people like Huang Zhang of Meizu and Chen Yongming of OPPO were growing increasingly anxious. It wasn't competition they feared, but losing to amateur players like 360 and NetEase.

After a thorough analysis, the two came to the same conclusion: 360 and NetEase had succeeded primarily because they used Orange Technology's mobile OS, supply chain, and contract manufacturing services.

But they weren't comfortable with the idea of completely handing over their phone businesses to Orange Technology.

While the two were agonizing over their decision, Lei Yijun called Chen Yansen. "President Chen, I've made up my mind. We're switching the Xiaomi 2A and Xiaomi 2S completely over to the Aurora OS."

Chen Yansen set down his laptop, walked out of the chip design department's office, and stepped onto the balcony. "President Lei," he replied, "if Xiaomi really wants to beat the 360 Mobile Phone, it's quite simple. Orange Technology has another mobile operating system, one with even better performance."

Since Sect Leader Lei was so eager to cooperate, Chen Yansen naturally seized the opportunity to make a sales pitch.

"The Aurora OS 1.6 version?" Lei Yijun asked.

"Whether it's Aurora OS or MIUI, at the end of the day, they're both just customized versions of the Android system. I don't want to leave Orange Technology's fate in Google's hands."

Chen Yansen leaned against the wall, his gaze falling on the vast expanse of white snow below as he spoke softly.

Just because Google isn't charging patent royalties now doesn't mean they never will.

Lei Yijun understood instantly. He immediately pressed, "So Orange Technology, just like Ah Li, has developed its own, brand-new mobile operating system?"

"At the end of the day, Aliyun OS is still just a knock-off system that's compatible with Android," Chen Yansen explained slowly. "But Aurora Future OS is different. From the programming language to the kernel architecture, we've completely avoided the code patents of the Java ecosystem and the Linux kernel."

'Aurora Future OS (Aurora Future System)?'

Lei Yijun quickly caught on. Chen Yansen wanted to use Xiaomi as a test subject.

"President Chen, Xiaomi's annual shipments are only a few million units, not even as many as the 360 Mobile Phone. How about this: Xiaomi will use the Aurora OS 1.6 system, and you can have Zhou Hongyi use Aurora Future OS?"

Lei Yijun suggested cautiously, letting out a dry laugh.

"Don't you trust me, President Lei?" Chen Yansen demanded.

'Like hell I trust you!'

'A new OS, regardless of whether it's developed in-house, is bound to have tons of flaws with compatibility and its app ecosystem.'

Chen Yansen was obviously trying to use Xiaomi as a guinea pig. How could Lei Yijun possibly agree?

"President Chen, I believe in Orange Technology's capabilities, but if the app ecosystem can't keep up, it's guaranteed to affect Xiaomi's sales," Lei Yijun said with a wry smile, forcing himself to decline.

"You can use it for free," Chen Yansen added.

The moment he heard that, Lei Yijun's interest was piqued. He asked with a sheepish grin, "Does it support a dual-boot mode?"

The implication was that Xiaomi could help Orange Technology promote the Aurora Future OS, but users had to be given the freedom to choose.

A phone compatible with two operating systems was extremely rare in 2012, but it would become standard practice in the future. For example, the Mountain Star Galaxy Note 9 supported both Dex desktop mode and the Android OS, while the Huawei Mate 30 Pro could switch quickly between EMUI and HarmonyOS.

The goal for all of them was simple: to become "the successor to Android."

"For every Xiaomi phone you sell running Aurora Future OS, I'll waive the patent fee for one phone running Aurora OS. But forget the dual-booting."

Chen Yansen said after a moment's thought.

"No problem," Lei Yijun agreed readily.

'This way, if the phones didn't sell, no one could blame him. Plus, Xiaomi would save a bundle on patent licensing costs.'

Three minutes later, Chen Yansen hung up and shook his head with a sigh of resignation. Launching a new standard was indeed fraught with difficulties, but 2013 was the best chance they would get.

If they waited a few more years, even the possibility would vanish.

Next, he would have to communicate with internet giants like Penguin, Ah Li, NetEase, Sohu, and Sina. He needed to get them to develop Aurora Future OS versions of their apps with the highest daily active users. The application development language and platform would also need to be made open-source and shared.

Right after, Chen Yansen dialed Xiaoma's number.

「Meanwhile.」

Lin Chenfeng from the Penguin Venture Capital Department, Shen Nanpeng from Redwood Capital, and Zhang Lei from Gao Ling Capital were at the Xingchi Technology headquarters in Hang City, signing a letter of intent and a draft equity transfer agreement with Hu Weiyi.

The three firms jointly invested 390 million Hua Yuan, giving OFO Bike a post-money valuation of 2.6 billion.

The news sent shockwaves through the domestic investment community.

'Is OFO Bike really worth 2.6 billion?'

'Based on just 80,000 bicycles and 300,000 Hua Yuan in daily revenue?'

Suddenly, a lot of people started getting antsy. If even something like *this* could talk its way into hundreds of millions in investment, what were they waiting for?

'Time to copy it!'

After group buying and food delivery platforms, bike-sharing became the next big craze for capital and entrepreneurs to chase.

Bike-sharing companies of all kinds began popping up overnight like mushrooms after a rain.

Far away in Yanjing, Cheng Wei cursed his rotten luck under his breath and immediately accelerated his expansion. Even in the dead of winter, DiDi Bike deployed another 50,000 shared bikes in the North China Region, instantly becoming the brand with the most bikes on the street.

Meanwhile, also in Yanjing, Wang Fengli quietly founded Tuge Technology Co., Ltd.

He had no idea how many bicycles OFO, DiDi, and Little Yellow Bike had collectively lost in the past year, 2012.

Car-sharing might be a decent business gimmick, but it was unworkable in China.

But the investment firms didn't care. They threw 30 million in funding at him with their eyes closed. Wang Fengli took the money and, while developing an app and searching for suppliers, ultimately set his sights on the Mercedes-Benz Smart.

It was small, lightweight, and perfectly suited for Yanjing's difficult parking environment.

Wang Fengli ordered 100 of them in one go, leading the dealership to assume he was the owner of a taxi company.