The Success Story of Liu Qiangdong, CEO and founder of JD.com, Inc.

Richard Liu Qiangdong (born February 14, 1974, or March 10, 1973) is an Internet tycoon from China. Qiangdong is dubbed the “Jeff Bezos of China.” JD.com, his organization, has often been compared with Amazon because of its commercial prototype.

Richard set up Jingdong as a B2C (business-to-customer) individual retail outlet for magneto-optical goods in June 1998 and subsequently shifted the firm in 2004 into an e-commerce site named JD.com.

Qiangdong served as the firm’s chief executive officer and elaborated its e-commerce goods from marketing consumer electronics goods to less specified stuff, which turned JD.com, Inc. into one of the top retail merchants in China.

As of May 2020, as stated by Forbes, the net worth of Qiangdong stands at US$ 9 billion. He enjoys a 15.8% shareholding in JD.com. His name was featured in the 2019 “China Wealthy List.”

In April 2020, Qiangdong conversed with the Chinese administration about a consignment of six hundred thousand pairs of gloves and five million masks for COVID-19 aid endeavors.

Where was Liu Qiangdong born?

Liu Qiangdong was born in Suqian, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China. He belongs to a Han Chinese family.

What is Liu Qiangdong’s occupation?

Liu is the CEO and founder of JD.com, a leading e-commerce company with its central office in Beijing, China.

What is Liu’s alma mater?

Liu is an alumnus of the following educational institutions:

• LLB – Renmin University 
• Master of Business Administration – China Europe International Business School  

Formative years and life story 

Liu’s parents were involved in the trade of transporting coal from Northern to Southern China.

From his teen years, Liu had an affinity for politics. Qiangdong completed his graduation from the Jiangsu province primary school and, in 1992, got admission to the sociology department at Renmin University, China.

Nonetheless, feeling that getting the qualification would not ensure satisfactory employment prospects, Liu spent all his free time studying computer programming.

In 1996, Qiangdong received a bachelor of law degree in sociology and attained an executive MBA from China Europe International Business School based in Shanghai.

When Liu was a college goer, he put his earnings from household loans and programming jobs into an eatery undertaking. However, the commercial venture collapsed within one or two months, suffering a loss of over US$ 200,000, which put Qiangdong in arrears.

Once he received his bachelor’s degree, Liu landed a job at Japan Life, a healthcare goods business based in Japan, and fruitfully acted as the director for trade, the director for PCs, and the logistics controller.

Professional life

In June 1998, Liu commenced his personal enterprise Jingdong (JD) in Zhongguancun High-tech Industrial Park, Beijing as a supplier of magneto-optical goods, concentrating on marketing licensed merchandise when forged goods were indiscriminately traded.

Upon origination, Jingdong firm got its name from the names of Richard Liu Qiangdong himself and his partner at that time, Gong Xiaojing, who also received her baccalaureate degree from Renmin University in China.

In 2003, they separated. Qiangdong had inaugurated twelve brick-and-mortar depots under the label Jingdong by 2003.

In 2003, the SARS epidemic held back customers and employees of Jingdong at home and compelled Richard to reconsider the industry prototype and switch to online trade.

 Because of the pandemic, Liu’s trade suffered losses exceeding eight million Yuan. In 2004, Liu unveiled the 1st online merchant site and set up JD.com (an abbreviation for Jingdong) subsequently that year. Richard shut down all brick-and-mortar outlets in 2005 and became an e-commerce enterprise.

In 2005, Qiangdong got a proposal to sell JD.com for eighteen million Yuan. However, he turned it down.

In 2007, Qiangdong utilized a comprehensive-grade policy for JD.com, altering the enterprise prototype of the firm from marketing consumer electronics goods to a diversified range of products. The firm now ranks among one of the best e-commerce ventures in China.  

In April 2022, JD.com declared that Liu had quit as the Chief Executive Officer and Lei Xu, the present president of the firm, will substitute him.

Personal life of Liu Qiangdong 

Qiangdong has a boy child, he was born in 2006. Richard might have had a wedding with the boy’s mother, as her name is not disclosed publicly.

In 2008, Qiangdong worked as an unpaid individual as a constituent of Red Cross endeavors and rode to Pingwu County to assist the sufferers of the earthquake in Sichuan.    

In August 2015, Qiangdong, 41, tied the knot with Zhang Zetian, a 22-year-old cyberspace icon better recognized as “Sister Milk Tea.” Their connection began in 2014 when Qiangdong was a student at Columbia University, and Zetian was a part of a student exchange program at Barnard College, associated with Columbia University.

People distinguished their early courtship in New York City when images were shared online. On April 10, 2014, Liu substantiated their affair to the world via his Weibo handle. On August 8, 2015, Zhang Zetian and Liu Qiangdong recorded their wedding in Beijing. Their matrimonial ceremony occurred on October 1, 2015, in Sydney, Australia. They had a girl child born in March 2016. 

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