Pinduoduo, the leading social e-commerce platform in China with more than 600 million users, has been listed on NASDAQ (PDD) for nearly two years. And, the founder is stepping down as CEO.
Huang Zheng, an ex-Googler and the founder of the Pinduoduo, has just resigned as CEO. Chen Lei, the former CTO of the company, is taking over the post of CEO.
Mr. Chen is one of the founding members of the Company and has served as Chief Technology Officer of the Company since 2016. Prior to joining the Company, Mr. Chen served as Chief Technology Officer of Xinyoudi Studio since 2011. He received his bachelor’s degree in computer science from Tsinghua University and his doctoral degree in computer science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Huang Zheng continues to be the chairman of the board. At the same time, Huang Zheng’s shareholding ratio in Pinduoduo has been reduced to 29.4% from 43.3% in April 2020, according to SEC. Accordingly, Huang Zheng’s voting rights decreased from 88.4% to 80.7%.
“The management changes will place us on an even stronger footing to strive for the next level,” said Mr. Zheng Huang, Chairman of Pinduoduo. “Chen Lei has been instrumental to Pinduoduo’s growth since its inception. With him taking on the role of CEO, I have every confidence that Pinduoduo will be able to take on more responsibility to create value for society.”
On his own role, Mr. Huang said: “I will remain Chairman and be closely involved in working with the Board and management to formulate the company’s longer-term strategy.”
Commenting on his appointment to Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Chen Lei said: “Pinduoduo has grown very fast because we were able to meet the unmet needs of many Chinese consumers. I am honored and humbled to take on the role of CEO of Pinduoduo and look forward to working with the rest of our management team and colleagues to make Pinduoduo an even better corporate citizen and contribute more to society.”
Concurrently, Mr. Jianchong Zhu has been appointed as General Counsel, and Mr. Jing Ma as Vice President of Finance, both with immediate effect.
Mr. Zhu has served as Senior Vice President of the Company since 2018. Prior to joining the Company, Mr. Zhu was a partner in the Beijing office of White & Case LLP.
From 2010 to 2017, he was an Associate and then Counsel in Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP. Mr. Zhu received his bachelor’s degree in English language and literature from Tsinghua University and his Juris doctor’s degree from University of California Hastings College of the Law.
Prior to joining the Company, Mr. Ma had 17 years of finance-related experience in the Chanel group. At Chanel, Mr. Ma held a number of roles, including most recently the corporate director of Chanel China Company Limited, the chief financial officer of Chanel Hong Kong Limited and Chanel Macau Limitada, and the regional treasurer of Chanel Limited (Regional Headquarter) responsible for all treasury matters across Greater China and APAC countries.
Mr. Ma received his bachelor’s degree in chrematistics from Shanghai University of Finance & Economics, his MBA degree from Fudan University and his EMBA degree from China European International Business School.
Top mobile shopping platforms in China: Taobao, Pinduoduo, JD