Huawei has been having a strange couple of weeks. Last week, there were the reports that Huawei was abandoning the US market, which proved to not really be true (although the company is clearly shifting away from the US). At the same time, though, rumors were swirling in the Chinese press that the company might be considering an IPO and that founder Ren Zhengfei’s successor might be a member of his family.
On Sunday, Ren addressed both of these rumors directly in an email sent to internal team members but subsequently published by the Chinese tech press. In it, he firmly denies the rumors of an IPO, writing that in the next five to ten years, Huawei has no plans for an IPO or for any kind of merger, segmentation, or acquisition that would get the company into capital markets. “The rumors that [Huawei] will IPO have no basis,” wrote Ren in his letter.
He was, if anything, even more blunt in his rebuttal of claims that he planned to appoint a member of his family as his successor. After laying out a number of qualities he feels his successor must have such as vision, character, and a number of business-specific abilities, he wrote:
None of my family members possess these qualities; therefore, they will never be included in the sequence of successors [for Huawei].
Harsh words if you’re a member of Ren’s family, but it’s good to see that he’s willing to address both of these rumors clearly and directly and deny them both in very clear terms. I can’t believe I’m about to write this about Huawei, but other Chinese tech companies would do well to learn from Ren’s example when it comes to squashing rumors.
(via Sina Tech)
Stay updated on the go with our mobile app.
Get latest insights with smoother, more personalized experience through TIA mobile app.
