Richard Liu, the founding father of Chinese language e-commerce massive JD.com, will step down from his position as CEO. His departure comes after various high-profile era founders exited their management positions amid Beijing’s regulatory crackdown on its home tech sector.
VCG | Visible China Team | Getty Pictures
JD.com’s billionaire founder Richard Liu has stepped down as leader government of the Chinese language e-commerce massive, becoming a member of a slew of high-profile tech bosses who’ve relinquished their roles on the firms they began.
That comes as Beijing continues to tighten law on its home era sector and scrutinize the industry practices of businesses.
Xu Lei, the president of JD.com, will take over as CEO and sign up for the corporate’s board of administrators, with rapid impact.
It’s the second one control reshuffle for JD.com within the final seven months. In September, Xu was once appointed president after leaving his position as head of JD.com’s retail industry. Liu will stay as chairman of the corporate’s board.
Liu has taken extra of a backseat method at JD.com since he was once accused of rape in 2018, an allegation he has denied.
Liu’s departure from the CEO position comes after various era executives stepped again from the companies they based within the final yr or so. Closing yr, Colin Huang, the founding father of fast-growing e-commerce corporate Pinduoduo, resigned as chairman. In November, ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming stepped down as chairman and Su Hua, the co-founder of quick video app Kuaishou, additionally resigned.
Beijing has sought to tighten law in spaces from antitrust to knowledge coverage and has punished firms that fall foul of its laws.
To this point, JD.com has escaped any main regulatory motion, in contrast to its rival Alibaba, which was once hit with a $2.8 billion anti-monopoly tremendous.
JD.com mentioned Liu will center of attention on guiding the corporate’s long-term methods, mentoring more youthful control, and contributing to the revitalization of rural spaces — a key center of attention of Chinese language President Xi Jinping’s “commonplace prosperity” force, the federal government’s push towards reasonable wealth for all.
