On the morning of September 9, while Apple's iPhone 17 hadn't yet made headlines, Xiaomi Corp. took the spotlight first.

However, it wasn't about a new device launch, but rather the dismissal of Wang Teng, who was once considered to have "imperial potential"! The reasons for dismissal included serious violations such as leaking confidential information and conflicts of interest.

Yesterday, Xiaomi Corp.'s "Professional Ethics Committee" issued an internal email announcing the disciplinary action against Wang Teng for violations.

The email stated: Wang Teng, an employee of the China Market Department, leaked company confidential information and engaged in serious violations including conflicts of interest. According to the "Xiaomi Corp. Employee Violation and Discipline Handling Measures" and "Xiaomi Corp. Integrity and Clean Governance Code," the company decided to dismiss Wang Teng.

Key points: Wang Teng! Leaked company confidential information and had conflicts of interest! Dismissed!

Once the announcement was made, people were stunned. What happened to the so-called "prince heir"? How did he "rebel"? Social media immediately exploded.

After trending on social media, Wang Teng quickly responded, demonstrating his social media savvy by linking to trending topics. Wang Teng posted on Weibo:

"I'm ashamed to apologize to everyone. I made some mistakes in the past and accept the consequences. Thank you to CEO Lei and all company leaders for their cultivation and trust over the years. I'm very reluctant to leave. I will continue to support Xiaomi Corp. and REDMI as always in the future. I'll take a break for a while before starting anew!"

Around eleven or twelve o'clock, multiple related topics took turns topping the trending charts - sometimes Lei Jun, sometimes discussions about Wang Teng having signed separate confidentiality agreements.

Some netizens even discovered his connection with internet celebrity Li Pao. On August 26, Wang Teng invited influencer Li Pao to test a new REDMI device. Li Pao published a review video, and less than 15 days later, the REDMI CEO was "gone."

Netizens concluded this must be some kind of mystical phenomenon!

The topics are still dominating trending lists even now.

This is quite normal. Wang Teng had too much prominence at Xiaomi Corp. Besides CEO Lei Jun, who serves as the company's main spokesperson, Wang Teng was the most watched executive.

His position was also high-ranking. Xiaomi Corp. has 22 job levels in total, and Wang Teng held level 21 as a middle management executive.

Before joining Xiaomi Corp., Wang Teng worked at OPPO, 360 Mobile, and other companies, mainly in mobile product manager roles.

Wang Teng joined Xiaomi Corp. in 2016 and began his promotion journey within the company, gradually growing from product manager:

In 2019, he became Director of Mobile Product Department; In March 2020, he joined the REDMI product team as REDMI Product Director; In November 2021, he was rotated to Xiaomi Corp.'s Henan branch, responsible for market sales in Henan; On September 11, 2023, Wang Teng announced via personal Weibo that he would serve as REDMI Brand Spokesperson and REDMI Marketing Department General Manager; On February 3, 2024, he became REDMI Brand General Manager; On May 8, 2024, Xiaomi Corp. announced personnel appointments with Wang Teng serving as Deputy General Manager of China Market Department and General Manager of REDMI Marketing Department, while continuing as REDMI Brand General Manager, reporting to Group President Lu Weibing; On December 31, 2024, Weibo verification showed Wang Teng was promoted to General Manager of Xiaomi Corp. China Market Department while concurrently serving as REDMI Brand General Manager.

It can be said that within Xiaomi Corp., Wang Teng had smooth sailing and gradually became an important middle management executive.

Moreover, on the Weibo platform, he was a leading tech blogger with over 1.78 million followers, achieving a V-index score of 79.02 as a "popular tech blogger," with daily reading volumes exceeding 100,000 and cumulative video views reaching 38.615 million.

Netizens were extremely interested in his memes. One widely mentioned meme about Wang Teng online is "Wang Teng has the makings of an emperor."

This meme originates from Chen Dong's novel "Perfect World," where Wang Teng's father Wang Cheng firmly believes his son has extraordinary talent, often declaring "My son Wang Teng has the makings of an emperor," placing high hopes on him to become king or emperor.

Indeed, Wang Teng rose rapidly within Xiaomi Corp.

However, as the novel's plot progressed, protagonist Ye Fan shone brilliantly while Wang Teng gradually became a supporting character, repeatedly suffering setbacks when opposing Ye Fan - a rather dramatic character setup.

Indeed, Xiaomi Corp. also has Jin Fan.

Most noteworthy and painful is his "leak meme," as if he was cursed by his own meme.

In April 2022, netizens revealed that Wang Teng was determined to have committed second-level information leakage for revealing new product launch timing, resulting in cancellation of annual promotion and deduction of performance bonuses. This leak incident was suspected to be related to the REDMI K50 standard version phone launch timing.

In October 2024, before the Xiaomi 15 series launch, mobile product manager Wei Siqi even gave Wang Teng a "Be Cautious in Words and Actions" T-shirt to warn him about maintaining confidentiality discipline - an act netizens viewed as another footnote to Wang Teng's "leak meme."

Notably, a few days ago, Xiaomi Corp.'s PR Department General Manager Wang Hua replied to netizens that to prevent Wang Teng from making revelations, they had him take leave. Clearly, taking leave was already equivalent to resignation.

Regarding the specific reasons for his dismissal, there are various theories. Some say it was because he "provided core data such as Xiaomi automotive pricing strategies and supply chain costs to external organizations," while others claim he "leaked new devices to tech bloggers in advance."

Investigation reveals that Xiaomi Corp.'s "internet celebrity" Wang Teng's last Weibo update was on August 29, his TikTok updates stopped on August 30, and his Kuaishou account has currently been banned.

However, while subordinates were anxious, CEO Lei Jun remained unfazed today amid numerous Weibo topics about Wang Teng, calmly going to the gym to exercise.

This shows that Xiaomi Corp. internally remains in a very calm state. The situation is definitely not as rapid as rumors suggest, and everyone likely had tacit understanding, ultimately choosing to resolve the matter together before bedtime yesterday.