Ren Zhengfei

This is a Chinese name; the family name is Ren.
Ren Zhengfei

Ren in 2014
Born 1944 (age 70–71)
Guizhou, China
Nationality China
Occupation businessman
Known for founder and president of Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.

Ren Zhengfei (Chinese: 任正非; pinyin: Rèn Zhèngfēi; b. 1944 in Guizhou, China) is a Chinese businessman. He is the president of Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., headquartered in Shenzhen, China, and an ex-People's Liberation Army officer. Hurun Report listed Ren as the 556th richest person in China in 2013 with private assets of approximately $590 million USD.[1]

Biography

Ren's grandfather was from Jiangsu province and was a master chef who was an expert in curing ham in neighbouring Zhejiang province. His father, Ren Moxun (Chinese: 任摩逊), failed to complete university studies when his grandfather died a year prior to his graduation.

During the Japanese occupation, his father migrated south to Guangzhou to work in the Kuomintang (Chinese Nationalist Party) arms factory as an accounts clerk. After 1949, his father was appointed as the president of No.1 Middle School of Duyun (Chinese: 都匀一中) where he met Ren Zhengfei's mother. The eldest of seven children, his mother was a senior teacher at the No.1 Middle School of Duyun.

After completing secondary school, he attended the Chongqing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture in the 1960s,[2] and then joined the People's Liberation Army (PLA) research institute to work as a military technologist in the PLA's Information Technology research unit. During his time in the PLA, Ren did not hold military rank. He was excluded from joining the Communist Party of China for most of his career in the military, due to his parents' social background and their ties to the Kuomingtang. During this time, Ren was responsible for a number of technology achievements that were recognized at various levels. For this reason, Ren was selected as a delegate from PLA to attend the National Science Conference in 1978. In 1982, Ren retired from the army due to a large PLA workforce reduction which impacted 500,000 active duty personnel. In 1983, after becoming a civilian Ren moved to Shenzhen and worked in the electronics business.

Huawei

In 1987, Ren founded Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd with 21,000 yuan. At the time, Huawei mostly sold telephone exchange equipment from Hong Kong.

He now serves as its CEO. The company had an annual revenue of $34 billion USD with 10% going into research & development,[3] and over 144,000 employees as of January 2013.

Time Magazine included Ren Zhengfei in its list of 100 most influential people of 2005.[4]

Ren holds 1.42% of the shares of Huawei, valued at US$450 million in 2010.[5] Huawei is essentially independent of Ren because it is held by most of its employees, but the ownership structure remains opaque.[5]

Political ties

Ren retired as a major of the People's Liberation Army in 1982. He joined the Communist Party of China in 1978. As a representative of private entrepreneurs, he was elected member of the 12th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. Among his other accomplishments, Ren is responsible for developing cooperative programs with businesses in China’s interior regions.

His ties with the Chinese military and Communist Party are being cited as a security concern in not allowing Huawei to expand in India.[6] These fears are shared by other countries around the world. In the United States it led to the collapse of Huawei's efforts to buy 3Com and forced SoftBank to greatly sever ties in order to have its takeover of Sprint Nextel acquire U.S. national-security clearance[7]

While in Great Britain the Intelligence and Security Committee has recommended the removal of Huawei's equipment due to spying fears.[8]

References

  1. ↑ "China Rich List 2013", hurun.net
  2. ↑ "Ren Zhengfei". Businessweek. Retrieved 15 April 2013.
  3. ↑ "Ren Zhengfei, founder and chairman, Huawei". Telecoms.com. Retrieved 27 March 2013.
  4. ↑ "Ren Zhengfei Modeled After Mao". Matthew Forney (Forbes Magazine). April 18, 2005.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Analysis - Who really owns Huawei
  6. ↑ http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2009/06/04/236301/huawei-complains-about-indias-security-concerns.htm
  7. ↑ "Huawei Loser in SoftBank-Sprint Deal Over Alleged Spying". Bloomberg. 30 May 2013. Retrieved 4 July 2013.
  8. ↑ "Like U.S. lawmakers, Brits raise spying fears over Huawei gear". c net. 6 June 2013. Retrieved 4 July 2013.

External links