£735m windfall for tech wizard

THE founder of Chinese smartphone giant Xiaomi has been handed a £735m bonus.

Lei Jun received the mega-sized reward for eight years of ‘devotion’ to the company, before its stock market debut.

It is believed to be one of the biggest corporate payouts ever and comes after the company reported a £980m annual profit. Xiaomi said Lei planned to donate most of his cash to charity.

The Beijing-based firm is the world’s fourth-largest smartphone maker, behind Samsung, Apple and Huawei.

It was co-founded by Lei and six partners nine years ago and is now trying to expand its global operations.