Xiaomi will IPO in 2025, says Lei Jun

One committed Xiaomi fan. Image credit: Xiaomi’s official Weibo.

A few months ago when we last heard from Lei Jun on the subject, things were going so poorly at Xiaomi that he admitted he was considering an IPO, even though he didn’t feel the time was right. But apparently he’s done considering, and his conclusion is no IPO anytime soon.

From China Daily:

Lei Jun, founder and CEO of Xiaomi Corp, said on Monday the Chinese smartphone vendor will go public in nine years.

“When I founded Xiaomi in 2010, I knew clearly that it would take 15 years for Xiaomi to go public, because the company’s business model is too complicated and consumers need time to cultivate belief in our products,” Lei said.

The Chinese tech tycoon made the comment at the ongoing 2016 Tianjin Summer Davos.

Lei said that Xiaomi wants to be like the Japanese retail chain Muji, which sells a variety of household goods. Over the past year, Xiaomi has been building out its own network of retail stores that sell its own phones, but also a variety of Xiaomi-branded and Xiaomi “ecosystem” products from smart lamps to drones to those scooters that everyone calls hoverboards (even though they don’t hover and aren’t really boards).

Presumably, Lei sees Xiaomi needing another nine years to mature that end of its business and transform itself from a smartphone brand into a smart home and electronics retailer.