Lei Jun is a Chinese entrepreneur and investor, chiefly famous for founding the home electronics company Xiaomi Inc. In accordance with Chinese naming tradition, Lei is his family name.
Despite devoting a lot of time to Xiaomi, Lei also keeps investing in other companies and is Chairman of several. His investments chiefly lays within the fields e-commerce, social networking and mobile industries. He is a founding partner of the investment company Shunwei Capital.
In 2013, Lei was appointed a delegate of the National People’s Congress.
In July 2015, Lei Jun made it to #87 on Forbes list of global billionaires.
Short facts about Lei Jun
| Name in Chinese | 雷军 |
| Born | 16 December 1969 in Xiantao, Hubei, China |
| Residence | Beijing, China |
| Nationality | Chinese |
| Alma mater | Wuhan University |
| Net worth | US$6.8 billion (2017) |
| Spouse(s) | Zhāng Tóng (张彤) |
| Children | 2 |
Early life
Lei Jun was born in Xiantao on 16 December, 1969. Xiantao is a city located at the Jianghan Plain in China’s Hubei province.
Lei enrolled at Wuhan University in 1987, after graduating from Mianyang Middle School. At Wuhan, he completed the program within two years and graduated with a BA in computer science. It was during his time at university that Lei started his first company.
In 1998, Lei was named honorary professor at Wuhan University. There is also a scholarship in his name there.
Early career
Lei began working as an engineer at Kingsoft in 1992. Six years later, he was the CEO of the company and leading it towards becoming a public corporation.
In 1999, 2000 and 2002, Lei was named a Top 10 IT Figure in China.
Lei stayed with Kingsoft until 20 December 2007 when he resigned from the positions of both President and CEO of the company, citing health reasons. (A few years later, he would return to Kingsoft as Chairman of the Board.)
While working as CEO at Kingsoft, Lei also founded the online bookstore Joyo.com. In 2004, it sold to Amazon.com for 75 million USD.
Business angel
After leaving Kingsoft in 2007, Lei became a very active business angel in China. Soon, he had invested in over 20 companies, including UCWeb, Vancl.com an the social network YY. He was appointed Chairman of UCWeb in 2008.
Xiaomi
Together with a group of cofunders, Lei Jun created Xiaomi on 6 April, 2010. Xiaomi manufactures smartphones and other consumer electronics, and also develops software, apps, etc. At the time of writing, the product includes, among other things, smartphones, tablets, smart TVs, routers, earphones, power banks, air purifiers, water purifiers, and robot vacuum cleaners.
By late 2014, Xiaomi was valued at 45 billions USD.
Other info
- Lei Jun was selected as one of the Top 10 Business Leaders of the Year 2012 by China Central Television.
- In 2013, Fortune put Lei Jun on their list of the 11 Most Powerful Business People in Asia.
- BAZAAR Men’s Style gave Lei Jun the Award for Most Notable Entrepreneur in 2013.
- Forbes Asia named Lei Jun Businessman Of The Year in 2014.