00:00It's a deeply reported story through the bravery of a widow who is convinced that it was his work schedule that in many ways contributed to his death at the age of 34, Peter.
00:11That's right. So Wang was one of the key managers as Xiaomi, the company best known for its smartphones, decided that they were going to push into electric vehicles.
00:21The founder, Lei Jun, said this was going to be one of his last strategic plays for the company.
00:26He had really earned a fantastic reputation for himself in the smartphone arena, but he wanted to succeed in EVs, too.
00:33Remember, this is something that Apple tried and wasn't able to pull off.
00:37Xiaomi has actually designed a very good car. They've been able to succeed in the market.
00:42They've been able to gain some traction in that space.
00:46But Wang was one of the key employees who was responsible for redesigning stores as they were shifting these stores from really showcases for smartphones to something that could show you a full-size automobile.
00:57They would have the infrastructure to be able to show that off and demonstrate what kind of cars they actually had.
01:02So at one point, he was responsible for 267 stores.
01:05He was working almost nonstop hours.
01:08His wife told our reporter that he would frequently work until the wee hours of the night.
01:13We also saw his WeChat messages where he was exchanging messages at 2.30 in the morning and working on and on and on.
01:19And as you mentioned, tragically, at the age of 34, he died of a heart attack.
01:25And so it's a story really about how these extreme hours can take a toll on managers, especially in an area so competitive like technology.
01:34Xiaomi has responded in part to our investigation and talking about their sympathies that go to the family.
01:41But set this in the context of 996, of what is very much a cultural focus on working extremely hard in China and tech.
01:51Right. Yeah, you're referring to 996.
01:53In China, they talk about working from 9 a.m. in the morning until 9 p.m. six days a week, which is extremely long hours.
02:00The World Health Organization defines overwork as working more than 55 hours.
02:05Now, in China, they work even harder than the United States.
02:08It's about 49 hours on average for full-time workers compared with 45 in the United States.
02:13In the tech industry, it's far beyond those kinds of hours.
02:17At Xiaomi, the workers, an independent survey showed that they were working 11 and a half hours a day.
02:23So you're talking about, you know, almost 60 hours a week that they were working.
02:28And Wang seemed to be one of the workers who was going even beyond that at this point.
02:32So, of course, there's a lot at stake here.
02:34They're competing for leadership in AI, in chips, in electric vehicles, et cetera.
02:39And there's a lot of money at stake.
02:40When you look at the most valuable, the wealthiest people in the world, they're all tech entrepreneurs, led by Elon Musk, of course.
02:47But you've got Larry Ellison and Jeff Bezos in there, too.
02:50There's a lot of money at stake.
02:51There's also geopolitical advantage.
02:53And Xiaomi was pushing very hard to make this pivot into electric vehicles.
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