JD.com appoints Lei Xu as chief executive
JD.com has appointed Lei Xu as its new president to succeed the company’s founder Richard Liu.
He will also join JD’s board of directors while Liu will remain as chairman.
Liu said: “I believe that JD has built a strong footing in the industry with sound management structure and a large number of excellent business leaders. Lei is highly regarded both inside and outside the company, and has been instrumental to driving JD’s consistent stellar business performance and formulating strategic decisions. I’ll devote more of my time to JD’s long-term strategies and future drivers as we continue to work on the most challenging yet valuable things.”
Having worked with JD.com for over a decade, Xu’s most recent role was president where he led the operation and collaborative development of various business units within the company. Prior to that, he held a number of senior roles including chief executive of JD Retail, chief marketing officer of JD.com, head of JD Wireless and head of the marketing department.
During his time as chief executive of JD Retail, Xu developed the business philosophy of “trust-based and customer-centric value creation,” led high-quality growth for consecutive years, and guided moves to develop a supply chain middle platform and omnichannel strategy. In addition, he was credited with propelling JD’s mobile-based strategic transformation.
Xu said “It’s an incredible honour and privilege to assume the role of chief executive of JD.com and lead such talented and dedicated management and employees. I believe Richard has built the most precious assets for JD. I share his business philosophy and commitment, and will continue to create value to our users, business partners and the society. Together with the leadership team, I will further build on that and drive high-quality and sustainable growth of the company going forward.”
