Xiaomi chairman Lei Jun may have lost $145 million bet

Lei has yet to publicly address his plans regarding the bet in a country where gambling is illegal on the mainland

It appears Xiaomi Corp.’s chairman Lei Jun may have lost a 1 billion yuan ($149 million) bet.

He wagered in a high-profile televised event in December 2013 that the smartphone maker’s revenue in five years would exceed that of Gree Electric Appliances Inc., predicting that an online-driven world of consumer electronics was about to disrupt the economy.

While the bet didn’t specify a particular measure of revenue, air conditioner maker Gree on Sunday reported revenue of 198 billion yuan for 2018, about 20 billion yuan more than Xiaomi during the same period when the tech firm missed analyst estimates. Xiaomi’s