In what could best be described as a shocking news, Xiaomi’s Vice President of Global Operations, Hugo Barra has announced via a lengthy Facebook post that he will be leaving the company after the Spring Festival.
Mr Barra has been the face of Xiaomi on the global scene since arriving at the company three and a half years ago from Google. Under his watch, the innovative startup has broken new ground, successfully staging entries into markets in India, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and recently Russia, Mexico, Poland and several others. The company has also successfully partnered Google in launching one of its product in the US and with the success of the company at CES 2017, there are good prospects of breaking into the lucrative US market.
The former Google VP hinted that he is leaving to take on new challenge, heading back to Silicon Valley where his family, friends and heart is. Barra has been in Beijing since his recruitment by Xiaomi to help transition the company into a global brand but has been missing his home in the US. In the post, Barra also spoke glowingly of Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun and the several other staffs who formed the team he worked with. He expressed confidence that the company is well positioned to compete as a global player, hinting that his mission has been accomplished.
Barra has however hinted that Lei Jun has asked him to remain as an advisor indefinitely, perhaps from his Silicon Valley base. The VP has said that he will take a well deserved rest and then return to a new role at Silicon Valley. As a result of Barra’s exit, Lei Jun, co-founder of Xiaomi, has announced that Xiang Wang, a Senior Vice President at Xiaomi, will take over from Barra and lead the global efforts.
(source)
