Introduction: An Accountant’s Intuition Often Starts with Details
Winter in Dubai isn't cold, but the US stock market in 2025 has certainly been running hot and cold.
As a female observer navigating the financial world, I am often asked: "Little Accountant, how were you so certain months ago that $Robo.ai Inc(AIIO)$ would take over Jiyue?"
To be honest, it wasn't some magical prophecy. That day at the Dubai Airshow, while walking through a sea of rigid, hard-edged fighter jet models, I saw the soft-lined Jiyue 01 quietly parked at the Robo.ai booth, sporting the Nasdaq ticker "AIIO" on its body. That was the moment my "professional intuition" kicked in.
(Side note: My photos of Jiyue from the Dubai Airshow have been cited countless times across the web; a little credit would be nice!)
With the acquisition now being hyped up, this "Little Accountant" wants to discuss why, in my eyes, this is a "Balance Sheet pending consolidation" worth looking forward to.
For months, I’ve been like a nagging housekeeper, publishing multiple articles tracking Jiyue’s pre-restructuring and Robo.ai’s signing with Zand Bank. Because of this, I’ve been jokingly dubbed the "Whistleblower." Today, with Robo.ai officially entering the Jiyue restructuring, I want to set aside the grand narratives for this year-end review and use our "household budgeting" logic to calculate whether this deal makes sense.
I.
Buying Ready-Made vs. Building from Scratch: A High-Value "Actuarial Calculation"
If we compare car manufacturing to "settling down in a home," there were only two paths before Robo.ai: buy land and build a house yourself (In-house R&D), or buy a fully furnished pre-owned home (Acquisition).
As accountants, what we value most are "Sunk Costs" and "Time Costs."
Even $苹果(AAPL)$ , the "rich and handsome" tech giant, spent 10 years and burned $10 billion trying to "build the house" itself, only to see Project Titan end in failure in 2024, leaving a mess behind. Meanwhile, our familiar "Model Worker" Lei Jun spent 3 full years and billions in investment with Xiaomi just to figure out how to build a car.
Robo.ai is a smart "Actuary." It chose not to gamble on an unknown three-year development cycle. Instead, it planned to participate in bankruptcy restructuring to buy Jidu (Jiyue) as a package deal at a steep market discount.
What exactly is it buying?
$吉利汽车(00175)$ SEA Architecture: Costing 18 billion RMB to develop, this is equivalent to the foundation and pillars of the house—a top-tier global standard.
$百度(BIDU)$ Apollo’s Smart Driving Soul: Equivalent to the most intelligent butler system.
A Mature Supply Chain: Saving the time it takes to haggle with thousands of suppliers.
In this moment, Robo.ai used "Financial Muscle" to buy the most precious asset of all: "Time." How is this a gamble? This is clearly the most pragmatic form of bottom-fishing.
II.
Asset Cleansing: What We Want is the Stability of "Daily Life"
Many sisters might feel scared hearing the words "Bankruptcy Restructuring," assuming it implies toxic assets.
But from a financial audit perspective, "Pre-restructuring" is actually a thorough "Spring Cleaning." Through legal procedures, Jiyue has stripped away complex historical debts, much like clearing old furniture and dust out of a house, leaving only the core, valuable hard assets.
By taking over now, Robo.ai obtains a squeaky-clean balance sheet. For us investors, this not only means controlled risk but also signifies that Robo.ai has finally transformed from a "Cloud System floating in the sky" (AI Software) into a "Real Entity" with property and assets on the ground. This security of "shifting from virtual to real" is something no PowerPoint presentation can provide.
III.
The Machine Economy: Letting the Car Earn Its Own "Pocket Money"
This is the point I want to emphasize most, and it represents a uniquely female perspective on future living.
Do you remember my deep dive into Zand Bank (the Middle East's first digital bank)? Why did Robo.ai go to such lengths to sign with a bank?
Because what Robo.ai wants to do is not just sell cars (that’s a traditional male business model); it wants to engage in "Stream of Income" operations.
Combined with Zand Bank’s compliant channels, the future Jiyue car will be more than just a transportation tool; it will become a "Financial Robot":
It has its own wallet: The car can automatically pay for charging and parking fees without you worrying about it.
It is your asset pack: Through RWA (Real World Asset) tokenization technology, this car can be directly financed on-chain, lowering your cost of ownership.
Car + Money + AI. Once this triangular closed loop is running, AIIO’s financial reports will contain not just "one-off sales" from selling cars, but a continuous flow of "Service Fees" and "Financial Transaction Volumes." This is a business that truly understands how to manage a household.
IV.
Little Accountant’s Year-End Summary: From "Drawing Cakes" to "Serving Dinner"
2025 is coming to an end. For Robo.ai, if the first half of the year was about "drawing cakes" (storytelling) for the market, then with the settlement of this acquisition at year-end, it has finally started "serving dinner."
As an accountant, I prefer the current Robo.ai. It is no longer an ethereal concept; it has factories, capacity, and fleets about to run on the boulevards of the Middle East.
In the days to come, we no longer need to rely on guesswork for valuation. Instead, we can take out our calculators and calculate its delivery numbers, gross margins, and cash flow based on real data.
Uncertainty is disappearing; certainty is growing. Regarding this deal, my audit opinion is: Win-Win, and Cost-Effective.
Sisters, sit tight. I will be here with you, looking forward to the moment this acquisition is finalized in 2026.
Disclaimer: This article represents the personal observations and financial logic analysis of "Little Accountant" and does not constitute investment advice. The stock market involves risks; please invest with caution.
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