JD.com formalized on April 7 the departure of its founder Richard Liu from his position as general manager after 18 years of activity. An announcement with an air of déjà vu, since he had already placed himself away from the day-to-day business of his company in September 2021. Xu Lei, his faithful lieutenant, is responsible for replacing him.
A fake real start? A true false start? A real-real start?
In September 2021, a chairman position had been created specifically for Xu Lei, while Richard Liu remained as general manager. At the time, the latter had explained that he wanted to focus on the long-term strategy of JD.com and the training of the company’s new executives.
The digital yuan lands on WeChat Pay and its billion users
Rebelote in April 2022, Richard Liu becomes Chairman of the Board of Directors, with 77% of the voting rights and Xu Lei takes over the executive management of JD.com and joins the Board of Directors. Official reason given by Richard Liu? ” I will be devoting more of my time to long-term strategies and future JD executives as we continue to work on the hardest, but also the most valuable things. »…
This decision is therefore not surprising, analysts had even predicted it in November according to CNN. For JD.com, nothing should change too much either with Xu Lei, the embodiment of continuity at the head of the second retailer in China whose value is estimated at 84 billion euros.
Richard Liu pledges to Beijing
Richard Liu took advantage of the news to unveil a multi-billion dollar donation to charity in China. This decision is not only linked to his image, very tainted by accusation of rape in 2018, dismissed for lack of evidence, but more in line with the policy of Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The “common prosperity” policy, launched in the fall of 2021, aims to reduce inequality in the country based on the goodwill, somewhat forced, of the richest. Between charitable works and his involvement for ” the revitalization of rural areas “, Richard Liu takes up the rhetoric of Beijing.
A gesture of goodwill when his company was relatively spared by the takeover of the technological news sector by the regime. JD.com had to reorganize to adapt to antitrust and privacy guidelines, its stock market valuation plummeted, but was not hit head-on by a fine like its rival, Alibaba.
Richard Liu is also the latest founder to walk away from the leadership of his company since the start of the Chinese crackdown. Zhang Yiming, creator of ByteDance, at the origin of TikTok, Su Hua, founder of Kuaishou, Colin Huang of Pinduoduo, not to mention the particular fate of Jack Ma, from Alibaba… Who’s next?