In 2022, the news of the founder's "abdication" came from JD.com, which was constantly moving.
In April, Liu Qiangdong officially stepped down as the CEO of JD Group, and Xu Lei, president of JD Group, will succeed Liu Qiangdong and join the board of directors of JD Group as an executive director.
At the time when Jingdong acquired the equity of Debon, Liu Qiangdong's retirement was somewhat surprising. Liu Qiangdong, who dared to speak out, once said that if I couldn't control this company, I would rather sell him.
Why has the tone of "Dong Ge" also changed?
"Brother Dong" retreats?
Liu Qiangdong, who has faded from the public eye for a long time, once again exposed the big news.
On April 7, JD.com announced that Xu Lei, president of JD Group, would succeed Liu Qiangdong as CEO of JD Group. At the same time, Xu Lei will join the board of directors of JD Group as an executive director.
However, the announcement also pointed out that Liu Qiangdong will continue to serve as the chairman of the board of directors and is committed to the company's long-term strategic design, major strategic decision-making and deployment, the cultivation of young leading talents and the cause of rural revitalization.
At the same time, thanks to the AB share system set up at the beginning of jd.com's establishment, Liu Qiangdong is also the actual controller of JD.com. Xu Lei will be responsible for daily operation management, reporting to Liu Qiangdong, chairman of the board of directors of JD Group.
That is to say, Liu Qiangdong did not really leave JD.com, he still ran the board of directors, sitting in the rear of JD.com to guide the country. After handing over some decision-making power, Liu Qiangdong also saved some time and energy to cultivate young people and devote themselves to the cause of rural revitalization advocated by the state.
Although he did not really leave JD.com, Liu Qiangdong's resignation is still a bit of a lament. Time is fleeting, and the "Yuanlang" green onion that Suqian walked out of is no longer there, and the entrepreneurial story of "Dongge" has been widely circulated.
From the "big strong son" in the mouth of the villagers to the "east brother" in the mouth of the employees, Liu Qiangdong is very grounded on many occasions, he likes to chat with the courier, and he does not talk about falsehood, all of which are real big truths, and there is no boss shelf at all.
It is his temperament that makes Liu Qiangdong's entrepreneurial history full of righteousness. Although it has gradually withdrawn from the management of JD.com and faded from the public eye, the story of the "Dongge" frog becoming a prince is still talked about.
Faded out for three years
Sponsoring CCTV's 2022 Spring Festival Gala, JD.com has become an e-commerce company that shines under the anti-monopoly of the platform.
Just after the Spring Festival Gala, Liu Qiangdong also announced that he would donate 62.3766 million shares of Class B ordinary shares to third-party funds for charitable purposes, with a donation value of more than $2.34 billion.
The donation will be mainly used for liu qiangdong's long-term attention to education, environmental protection and other social welfare undertakings. According to the surging news, as early as 2003, when Jingdong had only 38 employees in the early days of entrepreneurship, Liu Qiangdong led employees to sponsor 38 children to study in Jingle County, Shanxi.
In March this year, JD Logistics proposed to acquire about 99.99% of the equity of Debon Holdings for a huge amount of 9 billion yuan, and the latter held a total of about 66.50% of the issued share capital of Debon Logistics Co., Ltd. However, according to Caixin, JD.com's acquisition of Debon still needs to pass the anti-monopoly review.
It can be said that in 2022, Jingdong has a strong limelight in e-commerce companies, and at this juncture, Liu Qiangdong officially stepped down as CEO, which is somewhat incomprehensible.
However, combing through the previous dynamics of Liu Qiangdong, its meaning of "retreat" may have been there for a long time.
In the previous six months, Liu Qiangdong had frequently stepped down from important positions in JD.com's subsidiaries, most recently on April 2, when Liu Qiangdong stepped down as the legal representative, executive director and general manager of Beijing JD Century Trading Co., Ltd. As of April, Liu Qiangdong had stepped down from more than 40 companies under JD.com.
As we all know, Liu Qiangdong suffered a heavy blow from his career and relatives in 2018, and now that 3 years have passed, Liu Qiangdong has almost faded from the public eye.
Judging from the development of Jingdong in the past three years, after removing the color of Liu Qiangdong's founder, Jingdong is still running well.
In 2020, Jingdong Holdings' Dada Group was listed in the United States, and within a few days, Jingdong was listed for the second time in Hong Kong, at the end of the same year, Jingdong Health was listed, and in 2021, Jingdong Logistics was listed, and Liu Qiangdong suddenly gained four listed companies.
However, there are exceptions, from "Jingdong Finance" to "Jingdong Digital" to "Jingdong Technology", after three name changes, Jingdong Technology's listing journey can be described as a twist and turn.
Reviewing the development history of Jingdong in the past three years, there is one thing that may have touched Liu Qiangdong a lot. At the end of 2021, Tencent will distribute jd.com shares to announce interim dividends, and its shareholding in JD.com will be reduced from 17% to 2.3%, no longer the largest shareholder of JD.com.
At this time, Liu Qiangdong should realize that for Jingdong, it is not a good thing to dilute the personal color of the founder, which is more conducive to cultivating new people and less troublesome for follow-up successors. In the eventful autumn of the Internet, the era of Internet tycoons personally standing for enterprises has passed, from the front desk to the backstage, it is also a good choice to continue to exert energy and influence.
Persistent country dreams
There is a sentence in Li Bai's "Chivalrous Journey", "Things are whisked away, and there is a deep hiding and name." The meaning of this sentence is probably to describe the chivalrous event after the completion of the great event, and then go to hide the merit and reputation.
Liu Qiangdong's invisibility behind the scenes can also be said to be indifferent to fame and fortune in a sense. In fact, when the company makes a scale, the energy of the first generation of entrepreneurs is also a bit wasteful to put into the specific business.
Ma Yun said in his retirement speech that there are basically two ways in the world, either to the next generation or to professional managers. The third way, few people try, but we feel that this is the right way, that is, to discover, train, support the new leadership team, with culture, with the system, with the talent to ensure the company's heritage.
Liu Qiangdong's resignation as CEO also shows the same reason, and China's Internet companies are undoubtedly successful in building a successor system. Thinking of Ma Yun's retirement, just like Ma Yun said, today is not Ma Yun's retirement, but the beginning of a system inheritance. Today is not a one-man choice, but the success of a system. The Internet companies behind Zhang Yiming, Huang Zheng, and Su Hua have also done this successfully.
In the future, Liu Qiangdong may also leave JD.com further, and no one can say for sure. But there is no doubt that in the right year of life, Liu Qiangdong will still be active in the entrepreneurial stage.
Liu Qiangdong, who was born in the countryside, has always had a deep affection for the countryside, and many people do not know that Liu Qiangdong has always been involved in the construction of beautiful villages. In 2017, Liu Qiangdong served as the "honorary village chief" in Pingshi Village, Fuping County, Baoding City, Hebei Province, and promised on the spot that he would double the income of the villagers tenfold in five years.
A major way for Liu Qiangdong to devote himself to rural construction will give full play to the advantages of e-commerce platforms and help local governments open specialty pavilions on the Jingdong platform, such as Jingdong and Fuping County, where Pingtou Village is located, signed a strategic cooperation agreement on rural e-commerce and precision poverty alleviation, and launched the Fuping Pavilion of Chinese specialties. In addition, there are well-known projects such as "running chicken" and "Liangshan olive oil".
Liu Qiangdong's persistent dream of the countryside is also reflected in the fact that as early as 2011, he revealed that he would return to his hometown to lease 5,000 acres of land and grow pesticide-free and pollution-free rice.
Although this story also has a follow-up, the villagers said that the varieties he planted yielded less than 800 or 900 catties per mu, and the hybrid rice we planted generally had to be 1,450, and the highest was 1,670... The village also gave it to them to eat, the taste is the same as others, there is no feeling.
It is conceivable that rural revitalization is not achieved overnight, but if you want to achieve rural revitalization, you may need talents like Liu Qiangdong. Looking forward to Liu Qiangdong bringing news of rural spring.
Li Ying