Liu is the company's former chief executive officer and current chairman, expanding its e-commerce products from selling consumer electronics to less specialized items. Under his leadership, JD.com has become the largest retailer in China.[7][8] According to Forbes, Liu's net worth is US$4.9 billion as of 2023.[9][10]
As a college student, Liu invested his income earned from programming work and family loans into a restaurant venture. The business failed in a few months, losing more than US$200,000, which left Liu in debt.[14][15]
Career
After graduation, Liu was employed by Japan Life, a Japanese health product enterprise, and successively served as the director for computers, the director for business, and the logistics supervisor.[16]
In June 1998, he started his own business Jingdong in Zhongguancun High-tech Industrial Park in Beijing as a distributor of magneto-optical products, focusing on selling authorized products when counterfeit products were widely sold.[6]: 11 Liu opened 12 brick-and-mortar stores under the Jingdong brand by 2003.[17]
The SARS outbreak in 2003 kept staff and clients of Jingdong at home and forced Liu to rethink the business model and divert to online business. Due to the outbreak, Liu's business lost over 8 million yuan.[6]: 17 Liu launched his first online retail website in 2004, and founded JD.com (short form for Jingdong) later that year. In 2005, Liu closed off all brick-and-mortar stores and became an e-commerce business.
In 2005, Liu received an offer to sell JD.com for 18 million yuan, which he rejected.[6]: 27
In 2007, Liu employed a full-category strategy for JD.com, changing the company's business model from selling consumer electronics to large variety of goods.[6]: xiii The company has become one of the leading e-commerce businesses in China. JD.com has been compared to Amazon because of similar business models,[18] and Liu has been compared to Jeff Bezos as a self-made individual.[19][20]
JD.com applied to go public in the US in January 2014.[21] Liu raised $1.8 billion with a public listing on the Nasdaq in May the same year, and JD.com became the largest IPO for a Chinese internet company traded in New York.[22] On 22 May 2014, the stock price rose about 15%.[23] JD.com is the third largest internet-company in the world (by revenue) and is the largest e-commerce company in China.[24][25][26][27][28]
On August 31, 2018, Liu was arrested in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with the charge of rape.[29][30][31][32][33][34][35] The local police found "no substance to the claim against Mr. Liu".[36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43] Despite this, three law firms filed class-action lawsuits against JD.com, alleging that the company “failed to disclose pertinent information” about Liu’s arrest.[41][44] Liu's attorneys denied any wrongdoing[31] and claimed that the charges are not supported by evidence.[45]
On April 16, 2019, a student at the University of Minnesota, formally filed a civil lawsuit against Liu Qiangdong, claiming he sexually assaulted her.[46][47][48] In 2022, a settlement was reached, and the situation was handled outside of court.[49][50]
In April 2022, Lei Xu became CEO of JD.com, and Liu stepped into the role of chairman, continuing to focus on the company’s long-term strategies.[51] Sandy Ran Xu became CEO of JD.com in May 2023.[52]
In April 2020, Liu and Zhang Zetian announced a donation through the China Charity Federation that included 5 million masks, 50 invasive ventilators and more than 600,000 pieces of protective medical supplies to the UK.[53][54] That same month, Liu donated over 160,000 pieces of medical supplies to Uzbekistan as well as 800,000 masks to Chile.[55]
In February 2022, Liu pledged to donate his JD.com shares, currently worth $2.3 billion, to charity.[56][57] Later that year, Liu personally donated 100 million RMB, which was matched by the company and its subsidiaries, to a housing security and relief fund that will provide for the families of JD.com employees in the event of the employees’ death or injury.[58]
Liu has also established the Liu Foundation, which is dedicated to helping disadvantaged children on a global scale.[59] He has sponsored the education of children in Jingle County in Shanxi.[60]
^Yin, Feng (2014). 京东的秘密：刘强东和他的京东商城 [The secret of Jingdong: Liu Qiangdong and his Jingdong Mall] (in Chinese). Guangdong Travel & Tourism Press. ISBN9787807669005.
