Lei Jun

Lei Junis a Chinese business executive who was a cofounder (2010) of electronics maker Xiaomi Corp.; he also serves as chairman and CEO.

Lei attended Wuhan University, from which he graduated (1991) with a bachelor’s degree in computer science. In 1992 he joined the Beijing-based software company Kingsoft Corp., and by 1998 he had risen to become its CEO. He helped transform Kingsoft from a struggling company focused primarily on word-processing programs into a financially stable firm with products that also included video games and computer security software. In 2007 he led Kingsoft through its initial public offering (IPO), which raised nearly $100 million when the company was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. He left Kingsoft shortly after the IPO (though he later rejoined its board of directors), and for the next few years he led a venture capital fund.

In April 2010 Lei founded Xiaomi Corp. with several partners, including former Google executive Lin Bin. While the company sold various electronics, it was especially focused on smartphones. By concentrating on online rather than brick-and-mortar sales and by eschewing costly advertising in favour of interacting with customers directly through social media, Xiaomi was able to significantly undersell its competitors and thrive in the Chinese market. By 2014 the company’s valuation at more than $46 billion had made it the most-valuable tech startup in the world. In April of that year, Xiaomi demonstrated the power of its brand when it sold 2.1 million smartphones online within just 12 hours, setting a world record for the most mobile phones sold on one online platform in a single day, and by the end of 2014 Xiaomi had surpassed Samsung to become China’s leading smartphone vendor.

In an effort to continue Xiaomi’s growth, Lei increasingly looked for opportunities to expand beyond China. In July 2014 the company began selling smartphones in India, which Lei described as Xiaomi’s “most important market after China,” and in May 2015 Xiaomi launched an online marketplace for customers in the United States and Europe, although initially it offered only computer accessories and fitness devices rather than its smartphones. Under Lei’s guidance, Xiaomi became the world’s third largest smartphone manufacturer—behind only Samsung Electronics and Apple Inc.—in 2014, and Lei himself was widely known as the “Steve Jobs of China.” In 2018 he oversaw the company’s IPO, which raised about $3 billion when it was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.