The founder of Xiaomi has been given a “reward” worth more than £735m by the Chinese smartphone-maker, Xiaomi official reported.

The payment was confirmed in the firm’s 2018 annual report.

The company had previously said it intended to make the share-based bonus to Lei Jun in recognition of his eight years of “devotion” to the company. 

Lei, in turn, has promised to donate the sum to “charitable purposes” once taxes have been deducted from the compensation package.

The share transfer is in addition to other payments the company made to Lei including a salary and dividends, for which an exact sum was not given.