Chinese Billionaire & Founder Richard Liu Steps Down as CEO of $90 Billion JD.com
8th April 2022 | Hong Kong
Chinese billionaire & founder Richard Liu has stepped down as CEO of Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com, which has a market capitalization of $90 billion. Xu Lei, the president of JD.com, will take over as CEO with immediate effect. Richard Liu, also known as Liu Qiangdong, is the founder of JD.com, China’s largest online retailer, biggest overall retailer, and the country’s highest-grossing internet company by revenue.
“ Chinese Billionaire & Founder Richard Liu Steps Down as CEO of $90 Billion JD.com “
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Richard Liu, Founder of JD.com
Richard Liu, also known as Liu Qiangdong, is the founder and chief executive officer of JD.com, China’s largest online retailer, biggest overall retailer, and the country’s highest-grossing internet company by revenue. As the first China-based company to be publicly traded on the NASDAQ floor, JD.com has opened the doors for global commerce companies to be recognized on the United States’ trading floors.
While studying sociology at the prestigious Renmin University of China in the early 1990s, Liu spent much of his time doing freelance coding work and honing his computer programming skills. Recognizing the potential limitations of his undergraduate degree in terms of business prospects, Liu worked diligently to garner the skills that would make him a viable candidate in the job market. Liu’s undergraduate studies were followed with an EMBA from the China Europe International Business School.
After graduating, Richard Liu entered the professional workforce via employment at Japan Life, a large-scale health food and health goods supplier with a burgeoning online business. Working as the company’s director of computers and director of business prepared Liu for his initial foray into entrepreneurship.
In 1998, Liu ventured out on his own, opening a small brick-and-mortar shop called “Jingdong,” which sold magneto-optical products in the Zhongguancun High-Tech Industrial Park region of Beijing. By 2003, Jingdong was thriving and had expanded to 12 stores. However, the severe SARS outbreak that year forced the citizens of China to remain housebound, threatening Jingdong’s future. Recognizing this as an opportunity to pivot the business, Liu quickly reconsidered his brick-and-mortar storefront and the possibilities for the same idea using an e-commerce model. One year later, JD.com was born. By 2005, Liu had closed the remaining brick-and-mortar Jingdong stores to focus on e-commerce. The online platform originally sold a myriad of magneto-optical products, tech devices, consumer goods, and electronics.
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