JD.com’s Richard Liu threatens to fire execs amid slow growth

JD.com founder and former CEO Richard Liu has criticized the company’s executives and threatened to fire underperformers amid the company’s slow growth. The rebukes were made during two video conference meetings between November and December, people involved in the events told the South China Morning Post.

In the meetings, Liu described some of the company’s executives as “liars,” without naming any specific individuals, the anonymous sources said. One person said Liu also mentioned a possible senior management reshuffle. Another mentioned that Li condemned fintech unit JD Digits due to sluggish performance.

Li also slammed employees for covering up business incompetence with fancy PowerPoint slides and said that he was particularly unhappy about the company’s pricing strategy, according to Huxiu, a local media outlet that SCMP quoted in its report.

While he stepped down from his CEO position earlier this year, Li stayed as chair of JD.com’s strategic committee and maintained control of the company through voting rights.

JD.com’s Nasdaq-traded shares have dropped 12% this year, SCMP reported. In comparison, Pinduoduo’s Nasdaq stock has climbed by 51%.

In the financial year ended 2021, JD.com posted a net loss of US$600 million. This is compared to it earning a net profit of US$7.8 billion in 2020.

The ecommerce firm is also looking to pull out from its joint ventures in Indonesia – where it operates under the brand JD.id – and Thailand under JD Central.

See also: He escaped poverty to build the $33b JD empire. Will a rape allegation end his rise?