The Lucky 56: Xiaomi IPO to make dozens of workers millionaires

An employee wears a T-shirt featuring Xiaomi Corp. branding inside a Xiaomi store in Beijing, China, on Tuesday, April 3, 2018. The Chinese smartphone maker filed for an initial public offering in Hong Kong on May 3, kicking off a process that's expected to raise at least $10 billion and confer a value of $100 billion on the eight-year-old company. Photographer: Giulia Marchi/Bloomberg

Eight years ago, before China’s Xiaomi Corp had sold a single smartphone, 56 of the earliest employees pulled together US$11mil (RM43.74mil) to invest in the startup. Rank-and-file workers dipped into savings and borrowed from parents. One receptionist tapped her dowry. 

Today, they’re the Lucky 56. Xiaomi is one of the most successful smartphone makers in the world and it’s prepping a blockbuster initial public offering. Their stake in the company may soon be worth US$1bil (RM3.97bil) to US$3bil (RM11.92bil), depending on the stock sale. That works out to US$36mil (RM143.15mil) each at the midpoint.