Richard Liu, the founder and former CEO of JD.com, has lambasted the company’s management and threatened to oust underachievers in light of the business’s sluggish development. According to some engaged, the criticisms were delivered over two video conference sessions between November and December.
The unnamed sources said that during the discussions, Liu called several of the company’s executives “liars” without mentioning any particular names. One witness claimed Liu also brought up a potential reorganisation of senior management. Another person brought up Li’s criticism of JD Digits, a FinTech company, for its poor performance.
According to Huxiu, a local media site that SCMP cited in its story, Li reportedly criticised staff members for disguising workplace inefficiency with elegant PowerPoint slides and expressed his displeasure with the company’s pricing approach.
Li left his post as CEO earlier this year, but he continued to lead JD.com’s strategy committee and exercised voting rights to keep control of the business.
According to SCMP, JD.com’s Nasdaq-listed shares have decreased 12% this year. In contrast, the Nasdaq stock of Pinduoduo has increased by 51%.
JD.com reported a net loss for the fiscal year that ended in 2021 of US $600 million. In contrast, it is expected to have a net profit of $7.8 billion in 2020.
The e-commerce company also intends to leave its joint ventures in Thailand under the name JD Central and Indonesia where it operates under the moniker JD.id.
