After leaving jd.com, the Mingzhou incident was restarted, and Liu Qiangdong began to cash out again.

Text: Xiao Yu

This year, Jingdong can be said to have unlimited scenery, and it has won the exclusive interactive partner of the Spring Festival Gala at the beginning of the year. It also took the opportunity to obtain a total of 69.1 billion red envelope interactions, and also sold more than 10 million high-quality agricultural products. Subsequently, on the evening of February 2, Liu Qiangdong will donate another US$2.2 billion to charities for social welfare undertakings such as education and environmental protection, which has been praised.

Fast forward to March, JD Group released its 2021 annual results. According to the performance report, JD.com's full-year net income reached 951.6 billion yuan (about US$149.3 billion) in 2021, an increase of 27.6% year-on-year. Surpassing Huawei's revenue of 636.8 billion yuan in 2021, it has become the largest private enterprise in China.

Liu Qiangdong stepped down as CEO of JD.com

After entering April, due to the serious impact of the epidemic in Shanghai, Jingdong adopted a plan to aid Shanghai, sending more than 3,000 courier staff to assist Shanghai in one direction. For a time, the masses praised Jingdong. Also in April, founder Liu Qiangdong stepped down as CEO of JD.com Group, which also caused a sensation.

After Liu Qiangdong stepped down, the CEO of JD Group was promoted from president Xu Lei to be responsible for daily operation management. This also means that Liu Qiangdong will retreat behind the scenes. For Jingdong and Liu Qiangdong, it may also be a good thing, which also shows that Liu Qiangdong has found a suitable successor for Jingdong, which is something worth rejoicing.

Behind Liu Qiangdong's retirement

But for Liu Qiangdong's sudden retirement, there are still many speculations. In fact, when Liu Qiangdong was asked at the Davos Forum in 2018 whether he would retire, he also made it clear that "I believe it should not be before the age of 65." Now it seems that he was "punched in the face" by his own words, after all, Liu Qiangdong is only 48 years old. As the "soul figure" of JD.com, why should he choose to retire when he is rich and powerful?

In fact, all this is traceable, as early as 2020, Liu Qiangdong has actually been constantly stepping down from jd.com. Some people said that this may be related to the 2018, Mingzhou female college student case, when Liu Qiangdong was arrested, the case was investigated for more than 3 months, and finally Liu Qiangdong was officially closed without guilt. I did not think that in 2019, the parties once again filed a civil lawsuit against Liu Qiangdong and claimed 50,000 US dollars, and finally the matter ended without any results.

However, it also made Jingdong and Liu Qiangdong fall into public opinion, and also became a lingering stain on Liu Qiangdong, who was "full of positive energy". After this incident, many people found that Liu Qiangdong appeared less and less in people's field of vision, and constantly stepped down from the position of Jingdong, it is difficult not to speculate that Liu Qiangdong's retirement is more or less related to the incident.

The Mingzhou female college student case restarted

Back in April 2022, in the context of jd.com's soaring popularity and Liu Qiangdong's image gradually reversed. Now, after a few years, the Mingzhou female college student case has to be restarted. On April 26, #Liu QiangdongMingzhou female college student case restarted investigation # rushed to the hot search. However, after lawyer Liu Qiangdong's application, the public hearing that the United States had planned to hold would be cancelled, but it would still be held in private.

At this juncture today, why is it? The hearing was also held, supposedly because the parties had filed a lawsuit for compensation. But is this really the case? Is this hearing really just the female college student wanting compensation? Is there a possible unknown role behind this? Speaking of which, this incident is indeed quite bizarre, and most people still think that this is a trap and conspiracy, but in the end, we really can't draw conclusions. Of course, the truth is needed.

Liu Qiangdong quietly cashed out 440 million

Just after the Mingzhou incident restarted, some people found that Liu Qiangdong had started to act again. Liu Qiangdong actually quietly cashed out. According to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, on April 29 and May 3, Liu Qiangdong sold 8.84 million shares of JD Health for two consecutive times, totaling about 440 million yuan. But even so, Liu Qiangdong's shares have only dropped by 0.28%, holding 68.66% of the shares, and is still the largest shareholder of JD Health.

Speaking of JD Health, it is actually a company that focused on the big health business independently of JD Group in 2019. As soon as it becomes independent, it develops rapidly. In December 2020, it successfully landed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, and its market value exceeded HK$340 billion on the day of listing, significantly exceeding That of Ali Health. Due to the recent decline in Hong Kong stocks, the market value of JD Health has also declined, as of the close of trading on May 6, the market value was 131.1 billion, but Ali Health was only 51.232 billion.

What is the 440 million yuan cashed out used for?

For cash-out, some people think that it may be because of the fear of restarting the Mingzhou incident and affecting JD.com's stock price, so they cash out in advance. Of course, it is unlikely, after all, only a few cash out, and only a branch of the JD Group. It should be known that Liu Qiangdong not only holds Jingdong Health, but also has a 69.35% equity interest in Jingdong Logistics. In addition, in the JD Group, Liu Qiangdong also holds a 13.8% stake. Although less than 15%, it has more than 70% of the voting rights and is still the largest shareholder.

Of course, it is unlikely that 440 million yuan will be used for charity, after all, Liu Qiangdong has donated 2.2 billion US dollars not long ago. Therefore, this money Liu Qiangdong will most likely be used for project investment. It should be known that although Liu Qiangdong stepped down as the CEO of Jingdong Group, he still served as the chairman of the board of directors of Jingdong Group. And the newly appointed CEO Xu Lei also needs to report to Liu Qiangdong.

And for retirement, Liu Qiangdong also indicated that he will devote more energy to long-term strategic design, major strategic decision-making and deployment, the cultivation of young leaders and the cause of rural revitalization. This also means that Liu Qiangdong still has decision-making power over JD.com's important strategy. This 440 million may be the first step after his retirement, as for where the funds will flow, we do not know, can only wait for Liu Qiangdong's next further actions.

Overall, today's JD.com has also opened another new era. After Liu Qiangdong stepped down as CEO, he can also have more time to focus on what he wants to do. As for Liu Qiangdong, his ability is still very strong, and he has also done some practical things, not only vigorously helping his hometown, but also making no small contribution to the fight against the epidemic and disaster relief.

Of course, perhaps there are some problems with his life style, otherwise how can he ask others to grasp the handle? Knowing mistakes can be corrected, and good deeds can be great. Liu Qiangdong and related entrepreneurs, if they can learn from the Mingzhou incident, are also beneficial to their next development.