Xiaomi, The 7-Year-Old Chinese Company, Targets $14.5 Billion Sales In 2017

Hong Kong: Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi is targeting sales of more than 100 billion yuan ($14.47 billion) in 2017 as it emerges from a difficult year that saw an overhaul of its business, its chief executive Lei Jun said. 

"The worst is over," Lei said at the company's annual meeting in Beijing on Thursday, describing 2016 as a "make-up year" during which time it slowed its growth to make essential adjustments to its business. 

The seven-year-old company, which was briefly the world's most valuable start-up and hoped to become China's equivalent of Apple Inc, fell out of the top three ranking in China for smartphone vendors in 2016, after occupying the No. 2 spot in 2015. 

Privately held Xiaomi did not disclose 2016 sales.

($1 = 6.9102 Chinese yuan renminbi)

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)