TCL faces huge transformation pressure, with many executives leaving

TCL Group, which has just released its semi-annual report, has entered a turbulent period. Although both revenue and profit increased in the first half of the year, it unexpectedly saw a number of job changes in terms of personnel.

The reporter learned from TCL that Hao Yi, president of TCL Multimedia, has officially resigned and left TCL. Hao Yi was originally the CEO of TCL Multimedia. At the end of 2014, Bo Lianming, president of TCL Group and then CEO of CSOT, became the chairman of TCL Multimedia Strategic Decision Committee and became the de facto helmsman of multimedia. In June 2015, TCL announced that Bo Lianming would officially serve as CEO of TCL Multimedia, and Hao Yi would be transferred to the position of president of Multimedia. This position, which did not exist before, was considered to be a nominal position. At that time, there were rumors within TCL that Hao Yi was about to leave.

Hao Yi, born in 1973, joined TCL in 2004 and served as the business assistant of Chairman Li Dongsheng . He is fluent in English and served as the general manager of the overseas business center before becoming the CEO of Multimedia. It is not clear where Hao Yi will go after leaving TCL.

Unexpectedly, Bo Lianming's position has also been adjusted. Starting from August, Bo Lianming no longer serves as the CEO of CSOT, but as the chairman of CSOT, and President Kim Woo-sik serves as the acting CEO. CSOT is a "cash cow" of TCL, and the chairman position has always been held by the group chairman Li Dongsheng himself. In the first half of 2015, CSOT achieved sales revenue of 8.167 billion yuan and net profit of 1.24 billion yuan, accounting for 60% of the group's total net profit of 2.089 billion yuan.

The industry generally believes that Bo Lianming's resignation as CEO of CSOT is because he needs to focus on TCL Multimedia, after all, the profit pressure of Multimedia is much greater than that of CSOT. In the first half of 2015, TCL Multimedia's sales revenue was 12.171 billion yuan, up 1.08% year-on-year, and its net profit was 109 million yuan, down 19.9% ​​year-on-year. Although TCL's color TV shipments rank third in the world, it has fallen behind Hisense and Skyworth in the Chinese market, and is also facing diversion from Internet brands such as LeTV.

Jin Wuzhi, acting CEO of CSOT, is from South Korea. He was formerly the vice president of LG Display. He joined CSOT as senior vice president in 2010 when it was first established, responsible for leading the Korean technical team. He is currently the vice president of TCL Group and the president of CSOT.

In May 2015, Han Qing, who returned from overseas, officially left TCL. Before leaving, Han Qing served as the executive chairman of Huizhou Kuyou Network Technology Co., Ltd., responsible for the development of TCL's O2O business. Before 2010, Han Qing served as the general manager of TCL Multimedia China Business Center, and led TCL color TV to enter the top three in the Chinese market. He left for the United States in 2010 and returned in 2015. After leaving TCL, Han Qing switched to investment, and the chairman of the O2O company was taken over by Bo Lianming.

In June 2015, TCL Communication COO Wang Jiyang took sick leave. On June 25, Wang Jiyang announced on Weibo : "Due to health reasons, I will enter treatment and exercise mode for the next period of time. In the past week or so, the work at hand has been smoothly handed over." Wang Jiyang's COO position was temporarily replaced by TCL Communication CEO Guo Aiping, and he is still the executive director of TCL Communication. Although Wang Jiyang has not officially resigned, the industry generally believes that he is likely to leave.

Wang Ji Yang is one of the few TCL executives born in the 1970s besides Hao Yi. He joined TCL in March 2001 and has served as senior vice president and COO of TCL Communications. He has served as vice president of TCL Group since January 2011.

In addition to Han Fangming, the former vice chairman who just joined LeTV at the end of August, TCL has lost four senior executives this year. For TCL, which is in a critical period of transformation, the loss of talent may be more unbearable than the decline in performance. In the first half of 2015, TCL Group achieved operating income of 46.684 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 6.6%, and net profit increased by 5.54% to 2.089 billion yuan. Huaxing Optoelectronics, TCL Communication Technology, Finance and Venture Capital contributed a lot to the profit, while TCL Multimedia's net profit fell by nearly 20% year-on-year, showing that the group is under great pressure to transform to smart TV.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.