Here’s something unexpected: according to Reuters, Mark Zuckerberg met with Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun in order to discuss an investment by Facebook into the burgeoning Chinese smartphone manufacturer. The deal would have been excellent for both companies, granting Xiaomi some more brand recognition and helping Facebook ease past Chinese censors in the future. Unfortunately, Jun allegedly called it off out of fear of the kind of political fallout that such a deal would cause.
Mark Zuckerberg and Xiaomi Inc CEO Lei Jun discussed a potential investment by Facebook in China’s top smartphone maker ahead of its $1.1 billion fundraising last month, but a deal never materialized, several people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters. The discussions, at a private dinner when Zuckerberg visited Beijing in October, were never formalized, three of those people said, as the two CEOs weighed the political and commercial implications of Facebook – which has been banned in China since 2009 – buying into the Chinese tech star now valued at $45 billion. One individual with direct knowledge of Xiaomi’s fundraising said the mooted Facebook investment was “not huge,” but the talks underscore how ties between U.S. and Chinese companies have deepened as China’s tech industry matures. A Facebook investment in Xiaomi would have raised the international profile of the popular handset maker dubbed “China’s Apple” by its fans and linked it to a U.S. social networking phenomenon with more than 1.3 billion users.
NOTE: TECHi Two-Takes are the stories we have chosen from the web along with a little bit of our opinion in a paragraph. Please check the original story in the Source Button below.
TECHi weighs both sides before reaching a conclusion.
TECHi’s editorial take above outlines the reasoning that supports this position.
The Pentagon plans to add Alibaba, Baidu, and BYD to its list of Chinese companies linked to the military. This…
Nvidia is pushing hard against doubters like Michael Burry, the Big Short star, who question its sky-high value. The company…
Amazon is currently under investigation by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) following an incident where one of its delivery…
The launch of Starlink’s direct-to-cell service in Ukraine indicates a moment when technology goes beyond mere convenience, it becomes a…
