Xiaomi just announced LU Weibing (卢伟冰) as the Vice President of Xiaomi Group, and the General Manager of Redmi (红米), the sub-brand of the company.
Nov 19, 2018 /EqualOcean/ - Xiaomi appointed LU Weibing (卢伟冰) as the Vice President of Xiaomi Group, and the General Manager of Redmi (红米), the sub-brand of the company.
This information was announced and confirmed with the internal email sent by the organization department of Xiaomi Group and the announcement document was signed by LEI Jun (雷军), the Founder and CEO of the company, this morning at 9:01 a.m. UCT+8. LU Weibing later also announced this information through his Weibo page and said that he will show up at the launch event of Redmi Note7 in the afternoon of the same day.
Actually, LU Weibing just joined Xiaomi Group last week. Jan 2, 2019, LEI Jun posted a message on his Weibo page to welcome LU Weibing. One day later, on Jan 3, 2019, Xiaomi announced that Redmi (红米) as a sub-brand and even like a product series before, will start its independent operation.
LEI Jun commented that "It will be better for Redmi to be operated independently, split off from Xiaomi brand. Redmi will focus on the 'cost performance' and the e-commerce channel. This will help to position Xiaomi as a mid-high-end brand, and focus on 'New Retail'".
Obviously, LU Weibing was the man who will handle the mid-low-end market for Xiaomi Group in the future. According to the sales number in the Prospectus of Xiaomi Group, over 21 million sales units are from products priced from CNY 799 to 1200, and the more expensive cellphone products only contributed sales units of around 7 million. Redmi series, mostly priced between CNY 799 to 1200, did contribute a lot to the company before.
Before joining Xiaomi Group, LU Weibing worked for Gionee (金立手机) as the President. However, according to public information, Gionee's market performance in the past few years was not good at all. Cellphone sales data from Sino Market Research even claimed a 65% decline in sales units from Jan. to Dec. 2018, year over year. Furthermore, LU Weibing also used to be the Founder and CEO of Chenyee Technology (诚壹科技), started from June 2017, the company was actually the former overseas business department of Gionee. Unfortunately, Chenyee Technology was finally dissolved in Nov 2018.
Whether this man from Gionee could hold the business of Redmi, the fundamental product line of Xiaomi Group, would be a question. What for sure is that, for LU Weibing himself, the mature manager in cellphone industry with over 20 years experience, this Redmi business will be a tough fight where only success is permitted.