Chapter 255: The Billionaire

On the afternoon of the next day, Gao Wei left Beijing, taking with him a share transfer agreement; from that day forward, Senlian Capital officially became the majority shareholder of ByteDance Technology, holding a 60% stake.

In the evening, Lingxi Browser appeared on the homepage spotlight of the Orange App Store, with hourly downloads easily surpassing 100, 00.

Moreover, content resources from Tencent, NetEase, Sohu, and Sina could now be used freely; after signing the copyright contracts post-holiday, Lingxi Browser could skip the scraping step entirely and access news platform data directly via API interfaces.

In an instant, Lingxi was revived.

The difference between having a boss's backing and not having one is truly immense.

At this moment, Zhang Yiming no longer fixated on equity share or control; after reflection, he understood one truth: the tighter you grasp something, the faster you lose it.

…

…

On April 30, the first batch of 50, 00 units of the 360 G800 Pro Shiny arrived smoothly at Yunsu Express's North China, East China, and South China distribution centers.

After receiving the news, Zhou Hongyi set the official launch date for May 1.

The failure of the Haier W910 had left him with deep psychological trauma; he urgently needed a new model to prove that 360 could make phones.

If sales were strong enough to snatch away some orders from Xiaomi, he would be even happier.

The last battle at Chaoyang Park, where Lei Yi Jun shattered his glasses, still rankled him.

Not long after, news that the 360 phone was about to launch surged to the hot search list.

"What?! 360 phone? As a victim of the Haier W910, I just want to say: anyone who buys this is a brave soul!"

"System crash warning! Auto-restart warning! Black screen warning!"

"In the domestic smartphone market, only the Haier W910 can rival Xiaomi in terms of heat generation!"

"Last time I bought a Haier W910, President Zhou pre-installed twelve unremovable 360 suite apps; the lag was so bad I questioned life itself."

The comment section flooded with "positive reviews," leaving Zhou Hongyi stunned; he quickly clarified: "This time, apart from 360 Mobile Guard, all pre-installed apps can be uninstalled."

"Look! Unrepentant! Friends who love ads, go ahead and buy—this is an ad player worth owning."

Netizens immediately fired back.

"Did you notice? The design company for the 360 G800 Pro Shiny is Huawei, and the manufacturer is Orange—quality control probably won't be bad!"

"Damn! The 360 phone runs Orange Tech's latest AuroraOS 1. OS—how much money did President Zhou slip to Chen Yan?"

"To be fair, a 4. -inch touchscreen, 1GHz dual-core processor, 1GB+4GB RAM, and an 8-megapixel rear camera—all for 1, 99 yuan? That's actually a steal!"

"Should we give President Zhou one more chance?"

Some netizens who had previously shunned the 360 Mall, upon learning the specs, price, design firm, and manufacturer of the 360 G800 Pro Shiny, regained some interest.

"If it doesn't work, you can return it within seven days for any reason—even if opened!"

Seeing this, Zhou Hongyi gritted his teeth and promised.

"President Zhou, I'm a Haier W910 user—can I get a refund? My phone keeps blacking out, and after-sales won't fix it!"

One netizen seized the opportunity and quickly pressed Zhou Hongyi.

Refund! Refund! Refund!

Refund your damn chicken feathers!

Zhou Hongyi spat inwardly but, to avoid harming sales of the 360 G800 Pro Shiny, he ordered 360 staff to contact the user, verify the order, and process a refund.

Curious netizens compared the 360 G800 Pro Shiny with Xiaomi phones, pointing out that the 360 phone had a larger screen, identical memory specs, and was 700 yuan cheaper—clearly offering better value.

This instantly ignited Xiaomi users, who flooded replies: "You can't judge a phone by hardware alone—quality varies by supplier."

The implication: the 360 G800 Pro Shiny likely cut corners.

Zhou Hongyi immediately replied: "This 360 phone is a premium product, using the same supply chain as Orange phones—performance obliterates that Xiaomi."

Of course, Old Zhou selectively revealed only part of the truth, shamelessly riding Orange Tech's popularity.

Ten minutes later, Lei Yi Jun posted a Weibo: "If your product is truly solid, you won't need to spend every day screaming insults to survive—sales come from making things, not from yelling."

Though unnamed, everyone knew Lei Yi Jun was targeting Zhou Hongyi.

Within thirty seconds, a screenshot of Lei Yi Jun's Weibo appeared in Zhou Hongyi's comment section—clearly meant to ensure he couldn't miss it.

Zhou Hongyi's temper flared instantly; he fired back without restraint: "So no one dares touch your cheese? You're just a bully—monopolizing the market! Same specs, 360 sells for 1, 99 yuan, Xiaomi for 1, 99—do you think I'm hurting your profits?"

Netizens erupted with excitement, eager for the two to rematch at Chaoyang Park.

"If 360 wants to make phones, make them properly—stop always seeking shortcuts. Does the G800 Pro Shiny have anything to do with 360? Be a normal merchant—let your product speak, don't drown in illusions of invincibility."

Lei Yi Jun, no longer polite, sneered.

In truth, he was right—aside from pre-installing a dozen custom pop-up apps, the G800 Pro Shiny's design and production had nothing to do with 360.

Li Wanqiang followed closely, attacking Zhou Hongyi: "Everyone knows 360 loves special edition phones—appearing high-value but actually stripped-down, crippled devices."

The heated exchange turned foul, eventually dragging Huawei into the fray.

Yu Chendong, seeing this, felt regret—he'd always known Zhou Hongyi was unpredictable, and Lei Yi Jun was a marketing master at seizing attention.

Not responding made netizens call the G800 Pro Shiny's design garbage and trash Huawei too; responding made him feel Huawei only earned design fees and sales commissions, with little real connection to him.

Once he jumped in, the heat would only grow hotter.

After careful thought, Yu Chendong forcibly suppressed his urge to speak.

Zhou Hongyi and Lei Yi Jun argued from morning till night, delighting netizens—billionaire CEOs, ignoring their status, putting on such a raw, intense show, demanded full attention.

Before leaving work, Chen Yan glanced at the battle and shook his head.

The Weibo environment of 2012 was astonishingly tolerant.

Zhou Hongyi clearly couldn't match Lei Yi Jun; once Lin Bing joined, it became three-on-one—tech-savvy people always delivered the most cutting insults.

"Tomorrow, I'll subsidize 100 yuan per unit—I'll make Lei Yi Jun see that making phones requires zero technical skill—anyone can do it!"

Having argued with Lei Yi Jun all day online, Zhou Hongyi, eyes bloodshot, ordered his subordinates:

Subsidize 100 yuan?

That's another five million yuan in losses!

The 360 Mall manager glanced at his boss, nodded firmly, and agreed immediately.

Five million yuan? The company could afford it!

For each G800 Pro Shiny sold, Huawei took a 40-yuan commission, while Orange's manufacturing cost—including SMT mounting, testing, assembly, and packaging—was 60 yuan per unit.

Add the patent licensing fees for AuroraOS and battery management, and 360's hardware profit was nearly zero.

Zhou Hongyi, determined to vent his rage, had gone all in.

At 10 a. . the next day, the 360 G800 Pro Shiny launched on schedule.

Yesterday's brawl had generated tens of millions of extra exposures for the 360 phone.

Netizens who previously dismissed the 360 phone, upon seeing the price drop another 100 yuan, rushed to place orders.

Even those who'd been arguing online knew better—compared to other brands, the G800 Pro Shiny's price of 1, 99 yuan, ignoring performance, offered unmatched value.

Moreover, Zhou Hongyi had promised: if there were quality issues, seven-day return and exchange.

In the first hour online, sales hit 23, 00 units!

This stunned onlookers—wait, you guys actually bought it?!

Lei Yi Jun sat at his computer, staring fixedly at the sales figures, muttering: "These numbers must be fake!"

After all, the Haier W910 had barely sold 2, 00 units in a week—how could the 360 G800 Pro Shiny sell 23, 00 in one hour? Impossible.

But Lei Yi Jun hadn't expected that by noon, the 360 phone was already sold out.

Five minutes later, the product relisted—price returned to 1, 99 yuan, now as a pre-order link.

"Damn! I was still deciding whether to submit my order—and it's already sold out!"

Didn't everyone say yesterday they wouldn't buy? Who's rushing to take mine?

"Three days from now, I'll be in President Zhou's comment section—I'll see how many regret it and want to curse their mothers!"

Due to the Haier W910's failure, most netizens doubted the 360 phone.

Seeing all 50, 00 units sold out, Zhou Hongyi finally breathed easy and called Chen Yan, laughing: "Chen Zong, I've posted the pre-order link."

"Congratulations. How many units do you need this time?" Chen Yan asked casually.

Manufacturing one 360 G800 Pro Shiny cost 60 yuan for manufacturing, 55 yuan for component price difference, and 45 yuan for patent licensing—totaling 160 yuan.

Zhou Hongyi was effectively working for him again!

So the more 360 phones sold, the better—Chen Yan made the profit, Zhou Hongyi bore the blame—a perfect win-win.

"I'll give you a definite answer tomorrow," Zhou Hongyi replied, not rushing to decide—he wanted to see today's pre-order sales first.

"Fine, no problem," Chen Yan said, then hung up.

He estimated total sales of the 360 G800 Pro Shiny would reach around two million units.

Because in 2012, smartphone buyers were easily fooled—large screens, large memory, high-megapixel cameras, stacked specs, and affordable prices made selling effortless.

Just as years later, 360 fully entered the phone industry, shipping at least five to six million units annually.

Minutes later, Lei Yi Jun called: "Chen Zong, you're manufacturing the 360 phone—aren't you afraid of being roasted by netizens?"

"President Lei, my workers need to eat. Zhou Hongyi's price is high—understand."

Chen Yan smiled faintly, speaking calmly.

Inside, he thought: It's only because you didn't work hard enough to absorb Orange's factory capacity.

"What's your sales estimate for the 360 G800 Pro Shiny?" Lei Yi Jun asked bluntly.

"No less than one million units—two million is possible," Chen Yan answered honestly.

He'd spoken with Yu Chendong; Huawei planned to revise the G800 Pro Shiny's design and promote it as a flagship model for the second half of the year, targeting the mid-to-low-end market.

Clearly, Huawei hadn't cheated Zhou Hongyi in hardware or industrial design.

As long as 360's pre-installed apps could be uninstalled smoothly, selling two million units a year posed no problem.

"You're that confident in this product?" Lei Yi Jun was stunned—he trusted Chen Yan's judgment, making him even more surprised.

"The G800 Pro Shine is equipped with the AuroraOS 1. system," Chen Yansen stated calmly.

It sounded boastful, but Lei Yi understood that AuroraOS truly had that capability.

For a few fleeting seconds, he even considered abandoning MIUI and switching to AuroraOS, but he forcibly held himself back.

If he gave up MIUI, what else was left that was truly his own in Xiaomi phones?

"You give Zhou Hongyi a chance, but he may not appreciate it—watch out he turns and bites you one day," Lei Yi warned.

"I have plenty of experience training dogs. Lei Zong, better think about how to handle the threat from 360 phones."

Chen Yansen replied with a light laugh.

The competition between 360 and Xiaomi was, in fact, a competition between Huawei, OrangeTech, and Xiaomi.

To be honest, Xiaomi held no advantage in either its system or hardware.

Lei Yi knew well that the first-generation Xiaomi phone had reached the end of its vitality; to weaken 360 phones' impact, Xiaomi must quickly launch a budget phone with comparable specs but superior performance.

After finishing with Lei Yi, Chen Yansen glanced at the time, opened the door, went downstairs, and drove toward Xu Yuan.

On the other side.

Although the price of the 360 G800 Pro Shine had risen back to 1299 yuan, customer interest in placing orders showed no sign of decline.

Especially in parts of Shanghai, Yancheng, and Jin Ling, buyers received their phones by afternoon.

After testing, most buyers found the 360 G800 Pro Shine's performance unexpectedly strong.

Perhaps because expectations had been so low, most users were highly satisfied with 360's first phone.

Suddenly, 360 Mall and Zhou Hongyi's comment sections were flooded with positive reviews.

Even tech bloggers published hardcore review reports on the 360 phone.

This had a major positive effect on the pre-sale sales of the 360 phone.

By midnight, pre-sale sales of the 360 G800 Pro Shine reached 86, 00 units, plus 50, 00 in stock, bringing the total first-day sales to 136, 00.

This figure reignited Ding Lei's interest in making phones, despite his earlier decision to abandon the project.

If Zhou Hongyi could succeed, there was no reason he couldn't!

(End of Chapter)