CEO of the Week: Xiaomi’s founder Lei Jun

The Xiaomi Corporation, also referred to as Xiaomi, is a Chinese enterprise that specializes in the design and production of consumer electronics, including smartphones, household appliances, and related software. It is the world’s second-largest smartphone manufacturer, after Samsung. The company is the youngest on the Fortune Global 500, coming in at 338th place.

Xiaomi launched its first smartphone in 2011, and by 2014, it held the largest share of the Chinese smartphone market. The company started off selling its goods online before opening physical locations across the nation. The business was producing a wide range of consumer electronics by 2015. The company sold 146,03 million smartphones in 2020, and over 500 million people use its mobile user interface (MIUI) on a monthly basis.

By the end of 2023, Xiaomi will hold a 12% market share and rank third globally in terms of smartphone sales, predicts Counterpoint.

Xiaomi is a well-known producer of appliances as well, such as air purifiers, flashlights, televisions, and unmanned aerial vehicles. With its Xiaomi Smart Home and Internet of Things product ecosystems, the company is growing its range of domestic products.

The brain behind this successful consumer electronics company is a 53-year old Chinese billionaire entrepreneur and philanthropist Lei Jun. He is the Founder and CEO of Xiaomi .

Who is Lei Jun?

1. Lei Jun was born in Xiantao, in the underdeveloped countryside of Hubei, China

2. He completed his bachelor’s degree in computer science from Wuhan University in 1991

3. In 1992 he joined the Beijing-based software company Kingsoft Corp., and by 1998 he become the CEO

4. Lei founded Joyo.com, an online bookstore, which he sold for $75 million to Amazon in 2004

5. In 2007, he resigned as president and CEO of Kingsoft for health reasons and in 2010 he founded Xiaomi

6. Lei co-founded Shunwei Capital in 2011, an investment firm through which he makes investments in the e-commerce, social networking, and mobile sectors. The same year he joined Kingsoft as chairman

7. He was named Businessman of the Year by Forbes in 2014 and 100 most influential people in the world by Times Magazine

8. In 2018 Lei oversaw the company’s IPO, which raised about $3 billion

9. He had donated $1 billion to charities, starting with a ¥140,000 donation in 1997 to Wuhan University, later in 2021, he also donated over $2.2 billion worth of Xiaomi shares

10. According to Forbes, his net worth is 1,620 crores USD