The founder of the very high Chinese e-commerce group Pinduoduo unexpectedly stepped down as president.
Colin Huang is the seventh richest person in China and is worth more than $ 50 billion of his stake in the online company.
Huang’s departure comes as Pinduoduo overtakes rival tech giants JD.com and Alibaba, with 788 million active annual buyers on its platform last year.
But his company was criticized for its work culture after the death of two employees recently.
Huang will explore “new long-term opportunities,” the company said in a statement on Wednesday, releasing data saying it is now China’s largest e-commerce company.
Pinduoduo’s shares, valued at around $ 200 billion (£ 143 billion), fell nearly 8% after the news, eliminating about $ 4 billion of Huang’s wealth.
The former Google employee was briefly ranked the second-richest person in China last year, after an increase in sales from his e-commerce business.
Pinduoduo’s 788 million active buyers in 2020 surpassed Jack Ma’s Alibaba annual count of 779 million buyers for the first time.
Its innovative features include team buying, where customers come together to buy more units at a lower price. They can also play on the site and are sometimes rewarded with gifts.
‘Exploration trip’
In a letter to shareholders, Mr. Huang said: “As the founder of this company, I am probably the most suitable person to take on this task, leaving the business and the comfort zone to embark on an exploration journey.”
Pinduoduo named Chen Lei as the company’s new president. Chen was Huang’s classmate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and was named chief executive in July 2020.
The rapid growth of the e-commerce company has been driven by cheap deals, but continues to record losses.
Pinduoduo has repeatedly sought more funding, raising nearly $ 9 billion from investors since its launch on the Wall Street stock exchange in 2018.
The online food market has become highly competitive in China, as more buyers buy ingredients for daily meals on their phones after the pandemic.
But there has been widespread online criticism of the intense work culture in China’s growing technology industry.
In December, the death of a Pinduoduo employee who passed out after leaving work sparked strong criticism of his work culture.
Many tech workers follow a “996” schedule, based on daily work from 9 am to 9 pm, six days a week.