Apple made big news last week when its mobile payment service Apple Pay entered China. But China's upstart mobile phone brand Xiaomi is fighting back.
China's Xiaomi acquired a 65% stake in Jiefu Ruitong, a Chinese third-party payment service provider for an undisclosed sum.
Jiefu Ruitong reportedly completed an equity change on January 20, 2016, but it's only now that the full information about the deal is hitting the media. After the change, Xiaomi holds a 65% stake in the company and Hohhot's Shengyin Herui holds a 32% stake.
Lei Jun, founder of Xiaomi, is legal representative and chairman of Jiefu Ruitong. Meanwhile, the latest registered capital of Jiefu Ruitong has reached CNY100 million.
Jiefu Ruitong is the operator of the third-party payment system Ruifutong. By the end of November 2011, Ruifutong claimed to have over two million users, realized more than CNY2 billion annual trading, expanded over 100 cooperating partners, and established over 20,000 owned channels. This information comes from Ruifutong's website, and updated data is not immediately available.
Jiefu Ruitong was initially established by Hohhot's Shengyin Herui with an investment of CNY100 million. It is a high-tech enterprise engaged in third-party payments, and it has been approved by the People's Bank of China. It is also the only organization in Inner Mongolia that can operate Internet payment and mobile phone payment businesses across the country.