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Xiaomi’s Hugo Barra in India, celebrating selling one million phones during the holiday season. Photo credit: Hugo’s Facebook feed.
Hugo Barra, arguably the most public face of Chinese electronics company Xiaomi, is quitting after three and half years at the company. Hugo was vice president of Xiaomi’s international business.
In what seemed like a nod to China’s catastrophic air pollution problem, he said at least part of the reason for his move was his health.
“[…] what I’ve realized is that the last few years of living in such a singular environment have taken a huge toll on my life and started affecting my health. My friends, what I consider to be my home, and my life are back in Silicon Valley, which is also much closer to my family. Seeing how much I’ve left behind these past few years, it is clear to me that the time has come to return,” Hugo said in a Facebook post announcing the departure.
A former vice president at Google, Hugo left the tech giant in 2013 to join what was then a little known Chinese startup. He has been in charge of Xiaomi’s international expansion since. Earlier this month, Xiaomi said its India revenues had crossed US$1 billion in 2016, making it the Chinese startup’s biggest international market.
“As I thought about this late last year, I concluded that Xiaomi is in a very good place on its global expansion path, and if there was ever going to be a good time for me to come back home, that time is now — when I can confidently say our global business is no longer just an in-house startup,” Hugo said in the Facebook post.
Xiang Wang, the company’s senior vice president, will lead the company’s entire global efforts moving forward, Xiaomi co-founder Lin Bin said in a separate Facebook post.
“As much as we would love to have Hugo stay with us in Beijing for a much longer time, we understand his personal challenges and wish him all the best in his future endeavours. I’m also looking forward to working closely with him in his new role as advisor to Xiaomi,” he said.
Hugo Barra (R) and Lin Bin. Photo credit: Hugo’s Facebook feed.
Hugo said he will be out by February after Chinese New Year. “I will take some much-needed time off before embarking on a new adventure back in Silicon Valley,” he added.
Despite success in India, on the whole, Xiaomi has had a challenging 2016. The company is battling falling demand and competition from other affordable brands like Huawei, Oppo and Vivo. Some experts say the company has been too slow to tune into the needs of today’s Chinese users.
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