Lei Jun (born 16 December 1969) is a Chinese billionaire entrepreneur, computer engineer, and nonpartisan congressman. He is known for being the founder, chairman, and CEO of the consumer electronics company Xiaomi. He also serves as the chairman of Kingsoft and Shunwei Capital. Lei has been serving as congressman of the National People's Congress since 2013.
Lei Jun | |
|---|---|
| 雷军 | |
 Lei in 2025 at a congressional session | |
| Born | 16 December 1969 |
| Alma mater | Wuhan University (BEng) |
| Occupation(s) | Founder, Chairman & CEO of Xiaomi[1] Chairman of Kingsoft Chairman of UCWeb Inc.[1] Chairman of YY.com[1] Chairman of Shunwei Capital |
| Known for | Founder of Xiaomi[1] |
| Political party | Nonpartisan[2] |
| Board member of | Kingsoft |
| Spouse | Zhang Tong (张彤) |
| Children | 2 |
| Website | Weibo page |
| Lei Jun | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simplified Chinese | 雷军 | ||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 雷軍 | ||||||||
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As of 2025, Lei's net worth was estimated at US$44.6 billion by Forbes, ranking him 36th worldwide.[3]
Early life and education
editLei was born on 16 December 1969 in the city of Xiantao, Hubei, China. Both of his parents were teachers;[4] his father made $7 a month.[5] As a child, he was interested in electronics and liked disassembling and re-assembling radios, which was encouraged by his father.[6] He made the first electric lamp in his village using two batteries, a bulb, a self-made wooden box, and some wires.[7]
In 1987, he graduated from Hubei Provincial Mianyang High School (湖北省沔阳中学) and started to attend Wuhan University. He graduated from Wuhan University and received a Bachelor of Engineering degree with a major in computer engineering in 1991.[1]
Career
editIn 1992, Lei joined Kingsoft as an engineer. He became the CEO of the company in 1998 and led it towards an initial public offering on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2007. On 20 December 2007, he resigned as president and CEO of Kingsoft for "health reasons".[8]
In 2000, Lei founded Joyo.com, an online bookstore, which he sold for US$75 million to Amazon.com in 2004.[9] In 2005, he made a $1 million investment in YY; those shares were worth $129 million when the company became a public company via an initial public offering in 2012.[10] In 2008, he became a chairman of UCWeb.[11]
In 2010, Lei founded Xiaomi with multiple partners, including former Google executive Lin Bin.[12]
In 2011, he co-founded Shunwei Capital (Chinese: 顺为资本), an investment company, via which he invests in companies in the e-commerce, social networking, and mobile industries.[13] Also in 7 July 2011, he rejoined Kingsoft as chairman.[8]
In 2012, Lei Jun was elected as a deputy to the Beijing Municipal People’s Congress. In 2013, he was elected as a delegate to the 12th National People’s Congress representing Guangdong Province.
On December 26, 2013, he founded “Beijing Xiaomi Payment Technology Co., Ltd.” with a registered capital of 50 million RMB. Lei Jun served as the company’s legal representative and chairman.
[14]On February 24, 2018, he was elected as a deputy to the 13th National People’s Congress.
On June 21, 2018, Lei Jun, along with Xiaomi’s core executives, began the IPO roadshow in Hong Kong. Xiaomi’s stock code was 01810.HK. According to the prospectus, Xiaomi planned to issue 2.18 billion shares with a pricing range between 17 and 22 HKD per share, aiming to raise up to 6.1 billion USD. The authorized share capital had a total nominal value of 675,000 USD, consisting of 70 billion Class A shares and 200 billion Class B shares. Based on this, Xiaomi’s adjusted market value was estimated between 53.9 and 69.7 billion USD.[15]
On the morning of July 9, 2018, at 9:30 AM, Lei Jun rang the gong for Xiaomi’s listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, officially bringing the eight-year-old company to the capital market. Xiaomi became the first company listed under the “weighted voting rights” structure on the exchange, prompting the HKEX to specially commission a new copper gong for the occasion.
In 2019, Xiaomi was named a Fortune Global 500 company, becoming the youngest company on the list at the time.[16]
In 2020, Xiaomi fully entered the high-end smartphone market by launching the Xiaomi 10 series, signaling a brand shift toward “technology and quality.”[17]
In March 2021, Lei Jun officially announced Xiaomi’s entry into the smart electric vehicle industry. He personally took charge of the project and planned to invest 10 billion USD over the next decade.[18]
In March 2024, Xiaomi’s first electric vehicle, the “Xiaomi SU7,” was officially unveiled. [19]The model, focused on high performance and smart features, drew widespread attention, with Lei Jun personally hosting the launch event. The first batch of models received strong market response, with pre-orders exceeding 100,000, marking a successful initial step in Lei Jun’s automotive strategy.[20]
Politics
editLei Jun is a nonpartisan person.[21] He was elected to serve congressman of the 12th National People's Congress for the Guangdong congressional district in 2013.[22] He was elected to serve as congressman of the 13th National People's Congress for the Beijing congressional district in 2018.[23] He was re-elected to serve as congressman of the 14th National People's Congress for the Beijing congressional district in 2023.[24]
Philanthropy
editBy 2017, Lei had donated $1 billion to charity, starting with a ¥140,000 donation in 1997 to his alma mater, Wuhan University. He later made donations to Zhuhai Charity, an organization that funds schools for migrants, the villagers of Yangchun for the renovation of schools and mudbrick houses and construction of cultural buildings, the victims of the 2013 Lushan earthquake, and was a participant in the Ice Bucket Challenge to raise funds for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.[25] In 2021, he donated over $2.2 billion worth of Xiaomi shares to charity.[26]
In 2023, Lei Jun donated 1.3 billion yuan to Wuhan University, the largest individual donation the university has ever received.[27][28]
Personal life
editLei and his wife Zhang Tong (张彤) have two children.[3]
Awards and recognition
editIn 2014, Lei was named Businessman of the Year by Forbes.[29] In 2015, he was named to the Time 100.[30]
In 2019, Lei was recognized as an "Outstanding Builder of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics" (Chinese: 优秀中国特色社会主义事业建设者). The recognition was used by the United States Department of Defense as one of the reasons to add Xiaomi Corporation to a list of companies that support China's military in January 2021.[31] Later, the blacklisting of Xiaomi was blocked by a United States federal court and was removed by the United States Department of Defense after an agreement with Xiaomi was reached.[32][33]
References
edit- ^ a b c d e "LEI JUN". Xiaomi.
- ^ "雷军". Xinhua News Agency. Archived from the original on 16 March 2025. Retrieved 16 March 2025.
- ^ a b "Lei Jun". Forbes.
- ^ Lucas, Louise (22 June 2018). "Lei Jun hits another wall in bid to take Xiaomi public". Financial Times.
- ^ CAMBELL, CHARLIE (12 July 2018). "Lei Jun Wants to Be india's Answer to Steve Jobs. But Trump's Trade War Is Getting In His Way". Time.
- ^ Melanie Lee (7 December 2012). "Lei Jun, Founder Of Xiaomi, Might Just Be 'China's Steve Jobs'". HuffPost. Reuters.
- ^ "Childhood stories of the top 5 Chinese tech bosses". Yahoo!. 2 June 2016.
- ^ a b "Chinese Billionaire Lei Jun's Long, Twisting Road At Kingsoft". Forbes. 19 July 2012. Archived from the original on 8 September 2017.
- ^ "Amazon.com to Acquire Joyo.com Limited" (Press release). Amazon.com. 19 August 2004.
- ^ He, Laura (27 November 2012). "Chinese Billionaire Lei Jun Sees Hundred-fold Return After YY IPO". Forbes.
- ^ Russell Flannery (28 April 2014). "Alibaba, UCWeb Team Up In Mobile Search". Forbes. Archived from the original on 8 September 2017.
- ^ Mozur, Paul; Wang, Shanshan (15 December 2014). "The Rise of a New Smartphone Giant: China's Xiaomi". The New York Times. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
- ^ "Here's why Xiaomi is China's most important tech company". Tech In Asia. 19 December 2014. Archived from the original on 11 January 2015.
- ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20150518065124/http://www.npc.gov.cn/delegate/viewDelegate.action?dbid=121918
- ^ https://www.cls.cn/depth/252327
- ^ https://finance.sina.com.cn/chanjing/gsnews/2019-07-26/doc-ihytcitm4670453.shtml
- ^ https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20200213A0SCCY00?web_channel=wap&openApp=false&suid=&media_id=
- ^ https://www.nbd.com.cn/articles/2021-03-30/1679812.html
- ^ https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/xiaomis-first-ev-go-sale-starting-price-215900-yuan-2024-03-28/
- ^ https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/xiaomi-locks-over-75000-orders-su7-car-targets-over-10000-deliveries-june-2024-04-25/
- ^ "雷军". Xinhua News Agency. Archived from the original on 16 March 2025. Retrieved 16 March 2025.
- ^ "授权发布:中华人民共和国第十二届全国人民代表大会代表名单 - 2013两会 - 新华网". www.xinhuanet.com. Archived from the original on 16 March 2025. Retrieved 16 March 2025.
- ^ "中华人民共和国第十三届全国人民代表大会代表名单_滚动新闻_中国政府网". www.gov.cn. Retrieved 16 March 2025.
- ^ "中华人民共和国第十四届全国人民代表大会代表名单". 中华人民共和国最高人民检察院 Supreme People's Procuratorate. Archived from the original on 16 March 2025. Retrieved 16 March 2025.
- ^ Onawole, Habeeb (26 April 2017). "Lei Jun, Xiaomi CEO and Billionaire Hero Gets Honored". Gizmo China.
- ^ Flannery, Russell (3 November 2021). "China's Tech Tycoons Spread The Wealth As Beijing Pushes For 'Common Prosperity'". Forbes.
- ^ "CBN丨World's first supply chain expo opens in Beijing, highlighting stability in global supply chains | GDToday". www.newsgd.com.
Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi's founder Lei Jun has donated 1.3 billion yuan to its alma mater Wuhan University on the 130th anniversary of its founding, the highest-ever donation a Chinese university has received from an individual contributor.
- ^ "Xiaomi Billionaire Gifts Record $182 Million to China University". Bloomberg.com. 29 November 2023.
Lei gifted the school 1.3 billion yuan ($182 million), the biggest ever cash donation to a Chinese university from an alumnus.
- ^ "Forbes Asia Names Lei Jun As Businessman Of The Year In 2014". Forbes. 4 December 2014. Archived from the original on 6 September 2017.
- ^ Beech, Hannah (16 April 2015). "Lei Jun". Time.
- ^ Strumpf, Dan (5 March 2021). "U.S. Blacklisted China's Xiaomi Because of Award Given to Its Founder". The Wall Street Journal.
- ^ Yaffe-Bellany, David (23 March 2021). "Xiaomi Wins Court Ruling Blocking U.S. Restrictions on It". Bloomberg News. Archived from the original on 21 March 2021. Retrieved 23 March 2021.
- ^ "U.S. Agrees to Remove Xiaomi From Blacklist After Lawsuit". Bloomberg News. 12 May 2021. Archived from the original on 12 May 2021. Retrieved 12 May 2021.