Chapter 121: The Real Appearance Of Wa-wah 2.0
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
One day, the treasurer, Zhu Yuefang, pulled Chen Jin aside and quietly spoke to him. “President Chen, the company funds don’t seem to be sufficient.”
What?Hearing this, Chen Jin stood rooted to the ground. Insufficient funds?
Was there not a few billion in the company account just some time ago? How was it possible that such a huge sum of money could be gone so quickly?
Zhu Yuefang took out a detailed list with some reluctance and gave a report on his extravagant expenses.
One: Currently, the company employed 1,781 staff. It had three development plants and one rented office building. The monthly rent, utilities, consumables, salaries, and other expenses were over 100 million per month.
Two: Purchase of three workshops cost 55 million.
Three: Purchase of various technological patents cost 300 million.
Four: The development costs for “Wa-wah 2.0” incurred by the project department was 350 million.
Five: Purchases of office equipment cost 420 million.
Six: 500 million was allocated for the establishment of a department for the development of the chip.
Seven: Purchase of a super calculator costs 550 million.
Eight: 250 million was allocated for the construction of a large-scale hardware R&D facility.
Other expenses cost 150 million.
Total expenses incurred were 5.025 billion.
How much did Xing Hai Technologies earn this entire time?
The total revenue had been calculated. The three million units of Wa-wah Robot 1.0 edition that were sold generated a cash flow of 1.67 billion for the company. It had been two months since the launch of the Wa-wah 1.1 in May. According to the statistics by the sales department, a total of 2.75 million units of the Wa-wah Robot 1.1 were sold. This included all editions of the 1.1 robot. The average net profit from each unit was $1,203. Multiplied by 2.75 million… The company earned another 3.3 billion during those two months. In addition, Da Mi Technologies had sold around two million Love Mi robots. This meant a total payout of 250 million to Xing Hai Technologies for the cost of its exclusive rights.
The total profits were 5.22 billion (The bonuses paid to Youying Motors and Bi Long Technologies were temporarily excluded). After subtracting the sum of expenses from the total profits, the leftover profit on paper was less than 200 million.
Chen Jin patted his chest as he let out a sigh of relief. Looking at Zhu Yuefeng, he said, “Manager Zhu, you scared me! Why are you making a fuss about nothing? Don’t we still have 200 million?”
“President Chen, I’m not scaring you. You are spending money way too fast. According to this spending rate, the available cash flow of the company would dip below the warning level within a few days. For long-term growth companies like us, it’s not too safe to have funds that show up on the books as less than 500 million.”
“I think it would better if you control some of your expenses. The company is expanding too quickly. There is no reason to rush. Some expenses really should not be incurred; it’s best not to spend on those items.” Zhu Yuefang knew that the boss may dislike hearing those words, but he still advised him earnestly. After all, it was a high-tech enterprise with a bright future that had been established for less than a year before its legendary rise to the top of the 500 most powerful domestic companies with the highest sales revenues. It should take a safer and more reliable route. It should have a clearer direction for its development. Hitting out in all directions to seize all the opportunities and profits becomes a suitable course of action only when the company has grown into a giant leading corporation.
“All right, Manager Zhu. You can rest a.s.sured. The money that should be spent has almost all been spent. What’s left is waiting for our labor to bear fruit and the moment when we can reap huge rewards. Moreover, we are still selling some hundreds of thousands of the Wa-wah Robot every month. We still have a monthly profit of hundreds of millions… It won’t be too long before the company’s cash flow is rejuvenated.”
Zhu Yuefang nodded. There was no further need for his opinions since the boss had acknowledged the state of the company’s coffers.
…
Time flowed quickly like water. For the next four months, the entire company was swamped with work and entered a state of urgency. Working overtime became common, especially for the staff in R&D positions. The average working hours per week for the R&D staff in Xing Hai Technologies was 56 hours. It was only half a day’s difference from the 60 hours work week of the Hua Yao Company. It far surpa.s.sed that of internet companies 361, Ali, and Baidu, who were famous for their overtime working culture. It seemed that the company could not avoid the reputation of squeezing its employees anymore.
In reality, Xing Hai Technologies did not enforce any overtime policy. You could choose to work 9 to 5 where work and life were equal priorities. You could also choose to work overtime and get a higher salary. Hence, an overwhelming majority of the staff were willing to do overtime. They actively applied to work overtime. Some of the workaholics even bought sleeping bags with their own money. When they got tired at night, they would take a nap beside their work desks.
The first reason was the strict implementation of the overtime pay system. The hourly overtime rate was 1.5 times the normal hourly rate. One could only do overtime for a maximum of four hours.
The second reason was the excellent prospects of the company’s projects. In addition, the projects were inspiring and exciting for many. Hence, the R&D staff was filled with enthusiasm and motivation for their work.
There was this saying that went like this: When you’re doing something that you like, you’ll never feel tired no matter how tough it gets. When you’re doing something that you dislike, you’ll feel tired no matter how easy it is. The projects in Xing Hai Technologies belonged to the former.
During those few months, Chen Jin did not take any time off to rest. On the contrary, he was living like an ordinary R&D staff. He would go to the development plant whenever he was free. He was especially devoted and serious about the “Learning Machine” project. He came to the company at least four to five times every week and each time that he came, he would stay in the company for at least half a day to personally direct the workflow.
As such, he became even busier. It was not that he was torturing himself for nothing or finding trouble for himself by taking on extra work. He really was bored out of his mind.
One, the work on the environmental transformation in Haierfa had commenced and the AI, Nuwa, was fully in charge of the entire project. The most Chen Jin ever had to do was to move his lips and offer some opinions. Moreover, all the “rubbish” that could be found had basically all been found. After sending out the air transport squad to the Yamato State, they found a super calculator called “Sakura” who could count up to 10 s.e.xtillions. He then gave Alice another upgrade. After “Sakura,” there were essentially no other “darlings” left that warranted his attention or effort.
On Earth, the majority of the company’s general affairs did not require his personal attention. He handed that duty over to the CEO. Except for delegating work, he did practically nothing. Therefore, he could freely arrange how he wanted to spend most of his time.
But, he kept his promise to “Director Dong’s daughter” Yuan Li precisely because he had too much time on his hands. He took the initiative and treated her to a meal. Then, they went shopping. Their relations.h.i.+p became warmer and friendlier. After which, things got out of hand. In the short period of half a month, Yuan Li repeatedly asked him out for a meal three times, and to go sightseeing four times… One could not hold off the pa.s.sion of that girl.
Chen Jin was starting to find the whole thing somewhat tedious. He had a quiet personality. Yuan Li would invite him to go to various places to savor delicious food or trips to admire the scenery. It was good at the beginning, and he was happy too. But, he gradually became sick of these activities after the hundredth time. He found these activities to be meaningless. He realized that he was someone who did not really know how to enjoy life.
The two-dimensional ladies were enough to satisfy him. Rather than spending huge amounts of time eating, drinking, and having fun, why not do something that was more meaningful?
He sent a message to her. “Yuan Li, the company is very busy now. I won’t have any free time to go out with you for the next few months. Forgive me.”
Yuan Lin pursed her lips and replied, “Oh… Ok.”
…
On the 21st of December, after the 6-month rapid development process by the 300-man development team, Xing Hai Technologies achieved a breakthrough in their first product. They created a prototype of the final product version. They announced that the finalization was completed.
This product was the heavily upgraded edition of the Wa-wah Robot 1.1 — Wa-wah Robot 2.0!