Meng Wanzhou, who returned to China for six months, had a new position.
On April 1, Huawei announced that it had completed the election of the board of supervisors and elected the chairman of the board of supervisors, supervisors, and alternate supervisors. Guo Ping, the former rotating chairman of the board, was elected chairman of the supervisory board. Huawei Vice Chairman and CFO Meng Wanzhou succeeded Guo Ping as the new rotating chairman.
On March 28, 2022, Huawei's 2021 annual report conference was held at Huawei Bantian Base in Shenzhen, and Meng Wanzhou and Guo Ping attended the press conference together and interpreted the financial report data. Meng Wanzhou said that the last time he participated in the Huawei financial report conference was 4 years ago, in the past 4 years, the world has changed a lot, the motherland has also changed a lot, in the months after returning to China, he has been working hard to learn and keep up with these changes.
Now, Meng Wanzhou also has to step out of the financial field that he has been responsible for for a long time and begin to fully assume the heavy responsibility of the company's daily operation and management.
In the third year of the suppression, Huawei's revenue has fallen for the first time, and various businesses are also undergoing profound changes, which will be a test for Meng Wanzhou and the other two rotating chairmen. According to Huawei's corporate system, the rotating chairman is the company's top leader during the period of duty.
In the introduction of Huawei's official website, Meng Wanzhou's positions are: vice chairman, rotating chairman, and CFO.
The change of the board of supervisors has become an opportunity for this personnel adjustment, and Meng Wanzhou has become vice chairman in 2018
It is worth noting that the origin of the personnel adjustment of Huawei's board of directors is the re-election of Huawei's board of supervisors. On March 29, the shareholding employee representative meeting and the shareholders' meeting held a new election of the board of supervisors, and a new board of supervisors and alternate supervisors were elected. Guo Ping, former vice chairman and rotating chairman, was elected chairman of the supervisory board. Meng Wanzhou, who was elected vice chairman in 2018, was therefore replaced as rotating chairman.
According to the introduction of Huawei's official website, Guo Ping was born in 1966 and graduated from Huazhong University of Science and Technology (now Huazhong University of Science and Technology) with a master's degree. Guo Ping joined Huawei in 1988 and has served as project manager of the product development department, general manager of the supply chain, director of the president's office, chief legal officer, president of the process and IT management department, president of the enterprise development department, chairman and president of Huawei Terminal Corporation, rotating CEO of the company, director of the financial and economic committee, vice chairman of the company, and rotating chairman.
Just on March 28, Guo Ping, the rotating chairman on duty, also attended Huawei's 2021 annual business report press conference with Meng Wanzhou. Guo Ping said that the company's overall operating situation in 2021 is in line with expectations, the operator's business performance is stable, the enterprise business is growing steadily, the terminal business is developing rapidly in new industries, and the ecological construction has entered the fast lane.
For the adjustment of the company's board of supervisors, a Huawei spokesperson responded that the company is committed to optimizing and improving the internal governance structure so that the company's foundation will be evergreen, and the change of the board of supervisors is a work that the corporate governance is promoted in an orderly manner according to the charter.
It is understood that the Supervisory Board of Huawei is the highest supervisory body of the company and exercises the right of supervision on behalf of shareholders. The Supervisory Board is positioned to be responsible for the survival and development of the company, and its basic functions include leadership management, business review and strategic foresight. The members of the Supervisory Board are elected by the Shareholding Employees' Representative Council and voted by the Shareholders' Meeting.
The rotating chairman system was implemented by Huawei since 2018, and each rotating chairman has been rotated for 6 months. Meng Wanzhou also became the vice chairman of the company in the board election that year. At that time, the three rotating chairmen (Xu Zhijun, Hu Houkun, and Guo Ping) were also vice chairmen.
On December 1, 2018, Meng Wanzhou was detained by the Canadian side for no reason while transiting through Vancouver, Canada. After nearly three years of illegal detention by the Canadian side, Meng Wanzhou arrived at Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport on a chartered plane by the Chinese government and returned to her motherland smoothly. On October 25, a video taken by Huawei employees showed that Meng Wanzhou had returned to work at Huawei. After Guo Ping was transferred to the chairman of the board of supervisors, as the only vice chairman who did not concurrently serve as the rotating chairman, Meng Wanzhou's new position is also reasonable.
On March 28, Meng Wanzhou was at the Huawei financial report conference (courtesy of the company).
"Post-70s" Meng Wanzhou has been in Huawei for nearly three decades, and the current period may start from April next year
Among the current three rotating chairmen, Xu Zhijun was born in 1967, graduated from Nanjing University of Science and Technology, has a doctorate, and joined Huawei in 1993. Hu Houkun was born in 1968, graduated from Huazhong University of Science and Technology, graduated with a bachelor's degree, and joined Huawei in 1990. Born in 1972, Meng Wanzhou graduated from Huazhong University of Science and Technology with a master's degree and joined Huawei in 1993. It can be seen that Meng Wanzhou is the only "post-70s" among the three rotating chairmen at present, and is the youngest, but he joined Huawei quite early, and it has been 29 years.
Since joining Huawei, Meng Wanzhou has been working in the field of finance and economics, successively serving as the company's international accounting director, the chief financial officer of Huawei Hong Kong, and the president of the accounting management department. According to Huawei's official website, since 2003, Meng Wanzhou has led the establishment of a globally unified Huawei financial organizational structure, process, system, and IT platform. From 2007 to 2014, Meng Wanzhou implemented the IFS (Integrated Financial Services) reform in Huawei globally, making refined management one of huawei's genes for continuous growth.
Meng Wanzhou's latest contributions are to match the company's strategic prospects and long-term development plans, and to build an overall blueprint for financial digitalization. Huawei officially commented that under the leadership of Meng Wanzhou, Huawei Finance has become the world's leading digital and intelligent financial organization, creating a solid and reliable operating base for Huawei and helping the company achieve its strategy in the new era.
According to Huawei's corporate system, the Board of Directors is the highest responsible body for the company's strategy, operation management, and customer satisfaction. According to information on Huawei's official website, just recently on March 29, some directors resigned as directors of the company. Alternate directors Li Jianguo and Bloomberg are replaced as directors in accordance with the rules.
Within Huawei's board of directors, there is a standing committee, which is the permanent executive body of the board of directors, which is entrusted by the board of directors to study and brew major matters, make decisions on matters authorized by the board of directors, and supervise their implementation. At present, there are five members of the Standing Committee of the Board of Directors, namely Xu Zhijun, Hu Houkun, Meng Wanzhou, Wang Tao and Yu Chengdong.
As rotating chairman, Meng Wanzhou will be able to preside over the company's board of directors and the standing committee of the board of directors, and become Huawei's "first sister" during this time. If Meng Wanzhou also undertakes Guo Ping's current cycle, he should perform this position from April 1 to September 30, 2023. By then, she will have been with Huawei for a full thirty years.
Official photo of Meng Wanzhou on Huawei's official website.
Meng Wanzhou, who is born in finance and economics, may be conducive to Huawei's quality and efficiency, and Huawei will seek "butterfly change" under pressure.
From the financial field to the short-term management of the entire company's business, Meng Wanzhou's test can not be underestimated, especially since 2019, Huawei has been suppressed by the United States for several rounds of continuous increases, and Huawei has encountered great challenges in business development.
In 2021, Huawei achieved revenue of 636.8 billion yuan, and in the third year under external pressure, Huawei recorded a decline in revenue for the first time. Among them, the decline in consumer business revenue is the most obvious, with a decline of about 50%, and the revenue of mobile phones, tablets, and PCs has declined. Although the wearable device and smart screen business has developed rapidly, with a year-on-year increase of more than 30%, huawei's key product revenue of mobile phones, tablets, and PCs has declined due to the inability to obtain advanced process chip production.
In contrast, Huawei's enterprise business revenue rose by 2.1%, and the operator business revenue fell by 7%, and the growth was under pressure. Although Huawei's net profit rose sharply last year to 113.7 billion yuan, up 75.9% from 64.6 billion yuan in the same period last year, this should be the proceeds from the sale of assets.
In the face of the complicated situation in the business, Meng Wanzhou said at the financial report press conference that Huawei's biggest wealth is actually not on the statement. "Huawei's real value lies in the fact that long-term investment in research and development, the R&D capabilities, R&D teams, and R&D platforms that have been precipitated and accumulated are the core of Huawei's long-term and sustainable competitiveness." Meng Wanzhou said.
The Huawei financial system that Meng Wanzhou personally participated in building has also become a resource for Huawei to overcome hardships. At the financial report press conference, Meng Wanzhou introduced that in 2021, Huawei has greatly promoted the improvement of internal operation efficiency through digital operations, and the sales and management expenses of the entire company have dropped by nearly 10 billion yuan in a year. Meng Wanzhou's grasp of the company's overall business during the rotation period may also help Huawei further improve quality and efficiency, and survive more quality.
However, Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei has publicly stated that Meng Wanzhou "cannot be the successor of (Huawei)" because she has no technical background and cannot fully see the development trajectory of her children from her father's point of view.
Therefore, even if she becomes one of Huawei's most powerful inner circles, Meng Wanzhou still cannot be defined as a so-called "successor".
At the march 28 earnings conference, Meng Wanzhou wore a black top and a butterfly brooch pinned to his chest. Some netizens who watched the live broadcast pointed out that this may mean "breaking the cocoon into a butterfly". Meng Wanzhou, who has experienced 1,028 days of detention in a foreign country, should not have any misunderstanding about Huawei's current situation. In the face of external challenges, Meng Wanzhou and Huawei both need to "break the cocoon into a butterfly" once.
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