Facebook considered Xiaomi partnership as it looked to forge a path into China
Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg discussed a possible partnership with Xiaomi, China's biggest smartphone maker, in December it has emerged.
Mark Zuckerberg with wife Priscilla Chan
Reuters reports that Zuckerberg met with Xiaomi head Lei Jun to discuss a mutual partnership in which Facebook would buy into the Chinese firm despite the social network being banned in the nation since 2009.
The Facebook head previously outlined his ambitions for China in October when he addressed an audience at Tsinghua University in Beijing in Mandarin. During that visit he flirted with investing into the rapidly growing smartphone producer rated at $45bn.
Reuters claims the investment was scuppered as the Chinese firm feared risking its relationship with Google which provides the Android operating system for its smartphone range. The agreement could have helped the social network release its apps such as WhatsApp in China’s booming mobile market.
This comes after the social network's heads Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg met with Samsung’s vice chairman Lee Jay-Yong in October to discuss the launch of a possible smartphone.
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