Pinduoduo names new CEO in management reshuffle

Chinese ecommerce major Pinduoduo has named its chief technology officer Lei Chen as its new CEO. Former chief exec Zheng Huang will remain with the company as chairman of the board, according to a statement.

Pinduoduo ex-CEO Zheng Huang / Photo credit: Getty Images

“The management changes will place us on an even stronger footing to strive for the next level,” said Huang, adding that he will be “closely involved in working with the board and management to formulate the company’s longer-term strategy.”

Chen is one of the founding members of Pinduoduo and has served as its CTO since 2016. Prior to joining the company, he served in the same role for gaming startup Xinyoudi Studio.

“I am honored and humbled to take on the role of CEO of Pinduoduo and look forward to working with the rest of our management team and colleagues to make Pinduoduo an even better corporate citizen and contribute more to society,” the new chief exec said.

In addition to Chen’s appointment, Pinduoduo also named Jianchong Zhu as general counsel and Jing Ma as vice president of finance.

Before taking on their new roles, Zhu served as the company’s senior vice president since 2018, while Ma had 17 years of finance-related experience in luxury brand Chanel.

The recent appointments follow Pinduoduo’s achievement in June of hitting US$100 billion in market capitalization, after posting positive results for the first quarter of the year.

In May, Pinduoduo recorded US$923.8 million in revenue for Q1 2020, up by 44% from the US$642 million it reported in the same quarter last year.