A new journey begins

The following is Lei Jun’s speech at Xiaomi’s listing ceremony at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange today.

To our distinguished guests, welcome!

At this moment, in this very room, I am excited beyond words!

Eight years ago, I had a crazy idea. I wanted to use “internet thinking” to create mobile phones and enhance the perception of Chinese-made products globally, to let everyone in the world enjoy the benefits of innovative technology. To be honest, almost nobody believed in this crazy idea at the time. Thankfully, when the company opened for business on the first day, we still had 13 people who believed in this dream and came together to drink millet porridge (called “xiaomi” porridge in Chinese). I still don’t know if they really believed it at the time. Today, they’re all here with us, so you can ask them directly.

There are also 175 Xiaomi employees who have come to witness today’s celebration on behalf of Xiaomi’s 19,000 employees. Thank you again to all Xiaomi employees and family members. Together, we have achieved amazing milestones at Xiaomi.

At this critical moment in Sino-US trade relations, the global capital markets are in constant flux. I would like to thank our 100,000+ investors for their recognition and support for Xiaomi, including Li Ka-Shing, Jack Ma, Pony Ma, and many others. Thank you all! Although the macro-economic conditions are far from ideal, we believe a great company can still rise to the challenge and distinguish itself.

I am especially grateful to our Mi Fans worldwide. Eight years ago, we developed MIUI, which was our first product. The first edition only had 100 users, and with the support of these 100 users, we were able to grow step by step, and we now have over 190 million monthly active users. Today, we have invited 6 Mi Fans who have been strong supporters of Xiaomi since 2010, to attend our IPO ceremony in person. In a moment, I would like to invite Mr. Hong Jun on stage as a Mi Fan representative. We work hard to earn the recognition and trust of our Mi Fans, because we couldn’t have succeeded without their support.

We would also like to thank the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and the Hong Kong Securities Regulatory Commission. We are an internet company, and from day one we have set up a weighted voting rights structure with dual-class shares. Without the innovation of the Hong Kong capital markets, it would be difficult for us to have a chance to list publicly in Hong Kong. I believe that in the future, there will be more high-quality internet companies coming to Hong Kong.

From day one, innovation has been an integral part of Xiaomi’s DNA. However, true innovation has never been easy to come by. Every innovation requires huge investments of effort, as well as overcoming countless setbacks, misunderstandings and criticisms. The more we understand this point, the more we count our blessings. We are grateful for everyone’s understanding, trust, encouragement, and support!

We believe that the best way to express our gratitude is to continue going the extra mile. We will relentlessly build amazing products to demonstrate our sincerity to Mi Fans around the world. We will continue to improve our company, to demonstrate our sincerity to our employees and investors. Our stock will begin trading shortly, and this will be a brand new start for Xiaomi.

Thank you to everyone once again! Thank you!