Economic pressure has made the bosses of China's technology giants even more sensitive and will not hesitate to scold employees, even directors. One of them is Richard Liu Liangdong, founder of e-commerce giant JD.com.
As quoted by us from SCMP, Liu called several executives 'liar' and threatened to fire the underperforming ones.
Liu has ordered a 20% pay cut for some 2,000 senior managers to "lighten the company's burden". He promised to increase it again if the company continues to grow rapidly in the next two years.
In an internal speech, Liu also berated his senior executives who he accused of hiding the truth about the company's operations from him, even using PowerPoint slides to cover up their incompetence.
Liu is usually calm, especially since he was involved in a rape case in the United States, which ended in peace. Still, his sudden anger, after stepping down and handing over the role of CEO to longtime confidant and company veteran Xu Lei, signifies a determination to overcome challenges for JD.com.
That's because the country's e-commerce industry is struggling amid slowing economic growth and prolonged Covid-19-related supply chain disruptions. Not to mention that the Chinese government is getting tighter in regulation of internet companies.
According to the leaks, Liu did not like the company's pricing strategy. "We need to return to common sense, the five elements of business: product, price, service, cost and efficiency," Liu told JD.com executives.
Li Chengdong, founder and chief analyst at e-commerce consultancy Dolphin based in Beijing, said the anger showed Liu remained firmly in control of his business empire. "He was at the top," he said.