JD.com founder Richard Liu trumpets ‘doing the right thing’ on anniversary as other tech tycoons continue to lay low
- In a letter to investors Liu notes the transformation and rapid growth of the company
- Liu’s comments come as many tech tycoons continue to lay low amid regulatory scrutiny
Richard Liu Qiangdong, the billionaire founder of China’s e-commerce giant JD.com, said his company will “do the right thing [in] the right way” as the firm celebrates its 18th anniversary and amid increased regulatory scrutiny of the country’s Big Tech sector.
In a letter to investors published on Friday, Liu noted the transformation and rapid growth of the company in recent years, which has seen it pull off initial public offerings for its health and logistics units in the past 12 months and establish its 618 shopping festival as another key event in China’s competitive e-commerce landscape.
His comments come at a time when other Chinese technology tycoons have been keeping a low profile. For example Jack Ma, founder of rival Alibaba Group Holding, has taken up painting as a hobby, his close business partner Joseph Tsai said in an interview this week. Alibaba is the owner of the South China Morning Post.
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Zhang Yiming, founder of Tik Tok-owner ByteDance, last month decided to step down from his role as chief executive to focus on long-term initiatives, with his decision coming not long after Pinduoduo founder Colin Huang also decided to step back from day-to-day leadership.
Meanwhile Wang Xing, owner of delivery services giant Meituan, is currently dealing with an antitrust probe into his business, recently deleting a 1,000-year-old poem from his social media account after it fanned speculation he was complaining about Beijing.
47-year old Liu’s public image took a battering in late 2018 when he was briefly detained by US police after he was accused of rape by a Chinese student at the University of Minnesota.
He denied wrongdoing and was released less than a day later to return to China. Prosecutors later said they had not found enough evidence to charge Liu of any crime.