Lei Jun

In this Chinese name, the family name is Lei.
Lei Jun
雷军
Lei in 2022
Born (1969-12-07) 7 December 1969 (age 54)
Xiantao, Hubei, China
Alma materWuhan University (1991)[1][2]
Occupation(s)Co-founder & CEO of Xiaomi[2]
Chairman of Kingsoft
Chairman of UCWeb Inc.[2]
Chairman of YY.com[2]
Chairman of Shunwei Capital
Known forCo-founder of Xiaomi[2]
Board member ofKingsoft
SpouseZhang Tong (张彤)
Children2
WebsiteLei Jun's Weibo Page
Lei Jun
Simplified Chinese雷军
Traditional Chinese雷軍

Lei Jun (born 16 December 1969) is a Chinese billionaire entrepreneur and philanthropist. He is known for founding the consumer electronics company Xiaomi. As of October 2022, Lei's net worth was estimated at either US$8.1 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, making him the 203rd richest person in the world,[3] or at $7.5 billion by Forbes, ranking him 265th worldwide.[1]

Early life and education

Lei was born on 7 December 1969 in Xiantao, in the underdeveloped countryside of Hubei. Both of his parents were teachers, which was a disgraced profession after the Cultural Revolution;[4] his father made $7 per month.[5] As a child, he was interested in electronics and liked disassembling and re-assembling radios, which was encouraged by his father.[6] He made the first electric lamp in his village using two batteries, a bulb, a self-made wooden box, and some wires.[7]

In 1987, he graduated from Mianyang Middle School (沔阳中学; now Xiantao Middle School) and began attending Wuhan University, from where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in computer science in 1991.[2] During his last year of college, he founded his first company, Gundugoms. He also studied profusely and excelled at school.

Career

In 1992, Lei joined Kingsoft as an engineer. He became the CEO of the company in 1998 and led it towards an initial public offering on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2007. On 20 December 2007, he resigned as president and CEO of Kingsoft for "health reasons".[8]

In 2000, Lei founded Joyo.com, an online bookstore, which he sold for US$75 million to Amazon.com in 2004.[9] In 2005, he made a $1 million investment in YY; those shares were worth $129 million when the company became a public company via an initial public offering in 2012.[10] In 2008, he became a chairman of UCWeb.[11]

In 2010, Lei founded Xiaomi with multiple partners, including former Google executive Lin Bin.[12] In 2023, Lei was among thirteen Xiaomi officials listed on the National Agency on Corruption Prevention's list of International Sponsors of War for maintaining business in Russia after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.[13]

In 2011, he co-founded Shunwei Capital (Chinese: 顺为资本), an investment company, via which he invests in companies in the e-commerce, social networking, and mobile industries.[14] Also in 2011, he rejoined Kingsoft as chairman.[8]

Personal life

Lei and his wife Zhang Tong have two children.[1] In 2013, Lei was appointed a delegate of the National People's Congress.[15] As of 2016, he spoke very little English and spoke to the media via a translator.[16]

Philanthropy

By 2017, Lei had donated $1 billion to charity, starting with a ¥140,000 donation in 1997 to his alma mater, Wuhan University. He later made donations to Zhuhai Charity, an organization that funds schools for migrants, the villagers of Yangchun for the renovation of schools and mudbrick houses and construction of cultural buildings, the victims of the 2013 Lushan earthquake, and was a participant in the Ice Bucket Challenge to raise funds for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.[17] In 2021, he donated over $2.2 billion worth of Xiaomi shares to charity.[18]

In 2023, Lei Jun in the 130th anniversary of Wuhan University, completed a personal donation of 1.3 billion yuan, for the university up to now the largest individual donation.[19][20]

Awards and recognition

In 2014, Lei was named Businessman of the Year by Forbes.[21] In 2015, he was named to the Time 100.[22] In 2019, Lei was recognized as an "Outstanding Builder of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics", which caused the United States Department of Defense to add Xiaomi to a list of companies that support China’s military in January 2021.[23]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Lei Jun". Forbes.
  2. ^ a b c d e f "LEI JUN". Xiaomi.
  3. ^ "Bloomberg Billionaires Index: Lei Jun". Bloomberg L.P.
  4. ^ Lucas, Louise (22 June 2018). "Lei Jun hits another wall in bid to take Xiaomi public". Financial Times.
  5. ^ CAMBELL, CHARLIE (12 July 2018). "Lei Jun Wants to Be india's Answer to Steve Jobs. But Trump's Trade War Is Getting In His Way". Time.
  6. ^ "Lei Jun, Founder Of Xiaomi, Might Just Be 'China's Steve Jobs'". HuffPost. Reuters. 7 December 2012.
  7. ^ "Childhood stories of the top 5 Chinese tech bosses". Yahoo!. 2 June 2016.
  8. ^ a b "Chinese Billionaire Lei Jun's Long, Twisting Road At Kingsoft". Forbes. 19 July 2012. Archived from the original on 8 September 2017.
  9. ^ "Amazon.com to Acquire Joyo.com Limited" (Press release). Amazon.com. 19 August 2004.
  10. ^ He, Laura (27 November 2012). "Chinese Billionaire Lei Jun Sees Hundred-fold Return After YY IPO". Forbes.
  11. ^ "Alibaba, UCWeb Team Up In Mobile Search". Forbes. 28 April 2014. Archived from the original on 8 September 2017.
  12. ^ Mozur, Paul; Wang, Shanshan (15 December 2014). "The Rise of a New Smartphone Giant: China's Xiaomi". The New York Times. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  13. ^ Pan, Che (14 April 2023). "Ukraine calls Xiaomi a 'war sponsor' over smartphone sales in Russia". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 4 December 2023.
  14. ^ "Here's why Xiaomi is China's most important tech company". Tech In Asia. 19 December 2014. Archived from the original on 11 January 2015.
  15. ^ "In communist China, CEOs acquire more political clout". The Economic Times. 17 March 2013.
  16. ^ ROWAN, DAVID (3 March 2016). "Xiaomi's $45bn formula for success (and no, it's not 'copy Apple')". Wired.
  17. ^ Onawole, Habeeb (26 April 2017). "Lei Jun, Xiaomi CEO and Billionaire Hero Gets Honored". Gizmo China.
  18. ^ Flannery, Russell (3 November 2021). "China's Tech Tycoons Spread The Wealth As Beijing Pushes For 'Common Prosperity'". Forbes.
  19. ^ "CBN丨World's first supply chain expo opens in Beijing, highlighting stability in global supply chains | GDToday". www.newsgd.com. Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi's founder Lei Jun has donated 1.3 billion yuan to its alma mater Wuhan University on the 130th anniversary of its founding, the highest-ever donation a Chinese university has received from an individual contributor.
  20. ^ "Xiaomi Billionaire Gifts Record $182 Million to China University". Bloomberg.com. 29 November 2023. Lei gifted the school 1.3 billion yuan ($182 million), the biggest ever cash donation to a Chinese university from an alumnus.
  21. ^ "Forbes Asia Names Lei Jun As Businessman Of The Year In 2014". Forbes. 4 December 2014. Archived from the original on 6 September 2017.
  22. ^ Beech, Hannah (16 April 2015). "Lei Jun". Time.
  23. ^ Strumpf, Dan (5 March 2021). "U.S. Blacklisted China's Xiaomi Because of Award Given to Its Founder". The Wall Street Journal.

External links