Richard Liu Qiangdong or simply Liu Qiangdong is the founder of JD.com, one of the largest e-commerce retail sites in China and the world, which sells computers, home appliances, cell phones, clothing and automotive accessories, among other products.
The son of coal-mining parents, Liu Qiangdong was born in February 1974 in the city of Suqian, located in Jiangsu Province, China. It is not known for sure what his primary education was like, but as a young man he became interested in politics, graduating in Sociology at Renmin University of China in 1996. Later, Liu Qiangdong began to learn computer programming. Furthermore, in the following years, he obtained an EMBA degree from the China Europe International Business School.
At the time, the entrepreneur launched a restaurant business, which went bankrupt in a short time. Then he took a job at Japan Life, where he worked as a director of computers, director of business and logistics supervisor, experiences that undoubtedly helped him to create and develop a new business, which would later be called JD.com .
LIU QIANGDONG AND HIS JOB AT JD.COM
In 1998, Richard Liu Qiangdong started a magneto-optical product distribution business in Zhongguancun High-Tech Industrial Park in Beijing. That venture thrived, eventually opening 12 bricks-and-mortar stores under the Jingdong brand in 2003.
In 2004, however, China experienced a SARS outbreak, which forced Liu Qiangdong to digitize his business. So he launched the company's first retail website, JD.com, the JD brand being the abbreviation for Jingdong. The following year, he closed physical stores, thus becoming 100% online.
Already in the year 2007, Liu Qiangdong started to diversify its product mix. In this way, in addition to selling electronic products, he also started to sell retail products such as clothes, cleaning items, books, furniture, etc. Thus, JD.com became one of the largest e-commerces in China, going public in the US in 2014.
THE POWER OF JD.COM TODAY
Today, JD.com is one of the largest companies in the world. With 310.000 employees, the company achieved net revenue of $43,3 billion in 2021, which represented a 23% increase from the fourth quarter of 2020.
Richard Liu Qiangdong, in turn, is currently the 154th richest man in the world. He has a fortune of US$11,5 billion, according to Forbes data . In April 2022, he stepped down as CEO of JD.com, passing the baton to Lei Xu.
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