
Gree's chairwoman, Dong Mingzhu. Photo: VCG
Smartphone-maker Xiaomi’s founder Lei Jun has already lost a billion-yuan bet with the chairwoman of home appliance manufacturer Gree, Dong Mingzhu. But that doesn’t seem to be stopping him from accepting a similar challenge again.
The rivalry between the two companies began at a high-profile award ceremony for Chinese entrepreneurs in 2013. At the ceremony, Dong bet that Xiaomi’s annual revenue would continue to trail Gree’s in five years’ time. The two entrepreneurs agreed that the winner would get 1 billion yuan ($140 million), in a competition widely seen as a symbolic battle between traditional manufacturing and the nascent smart-device industry.
By 2018 Xiaomi, having lagged behind Gree the whole time, had narrowed the annual revenue gap to 23 billion yuan — but nevertheless lost the bet, coming in at 175 billion.
At an industry event in Beijing on Wednesday, Dong said she wouldn’t take the 1 billion yuan — but that she wanted to make another five-year bet, multiple Chinese media outlets reported. She did not specify the size of the bet.
Lei reportedly said at the event that he “would like to try” once more to beat Gree.
Much has changed since Dong issued her challenge in 2013. Increased competition and technological developments have pushed Gree toward developing its own chips, while Xiaomi has made an aggressive push into 5G mobile technology.