China’s JD.com banks on retail chief to steer it through crisis

China’s JD.com banks on retail chief to steer it through crisis

JD Retail CEO Xu Lei. Photo: JD.com Corporate Blog

Over two decades, Richard Liu built a tiny suburban electronics outlet into China’s second largest e-commerce empire. Now, the billionaire entrepreneur is retreating from the spotlight and entrusting fast-rising lieutenant Xu Lei with steering JD.com Inc. through the greatest crisis since its founding.