Cheng Wei (simplified Chinese: 程维; traditional Chinese: 程維; pinyin: Chéng Wéi; born 19 May 1983) is a Chinese billionaire businessman.[1] He is the founder, chairman and CEO of DiDi, a Chinese mobile transportation platform with global operations.[2] In 2012, after eight years at Alibaba Group's regional and Alipay's operations, Cheng founded Beijing Xiaoju Technology Co Ltd in Zhongguancun.[3]

Cheng Wei
(程维)
Born (1983-05-19) 19 May 1983 (age 40)
Shangrao, China
EducationBeijing University of Chemical Technology
OccupationBusinessman
Known forFounder, chairman and CEO of DiDi
Founder of Beijing Xiaoju Technology Ltd.

Biography edit

Cheng was born in 1983 in Jiangxi, China.[1] He received a bachelor's degree in administration from Beijing University of Chemical Technology.[4][5][1]

After graduation, Cheng served as an assistant to a chairman at a foot massage company. About one year later, Cheng applied to join Alibaba as a sales person for its business-to-business e-commerce service in 2005.[1]

For six years at Alibaba, Cheng served as a sales manager for the northern region of China. He later moved to China's largest third-party online payment platform, Alipay, where he was soon promoted to the position of regional manager.[4][6]

In 2012, Cheng left Alibaba to found Beijing Xiaoju Technology Co and launch Didi Dache—translated to "Beep Beep Call a Taxi"—as the initial incarnation of his ride-hailing service.[1]

In 2014, Cheng hired Jean Liu (Liu Qing), a former Goldman Sachs Asia managing director, as the COO of the company.[6]

In February 2015, the company merged with its rival Kuaidi Dache and was renamed Didi Kuaidi (later renamed Didi Chuxing or “DiDi”).[7]

In August 2016, DiDi acquired all assets of the Chinese division of Uber.[8]

Since the company was founded in 2012, under the leadership of Cheng Wei and Jean Liu, DiDi has grown to become one of the world’s highest valued tech start-ups.[9]

Other activities edit

In September 2015, Cheng was selected as a co-chair of the Summer Davos in Asia: Annual Meeting of the New Champions 2015.[10]

Published work edit

  • DiDi: The Sharing Economy is Changing China co-authored by Jean Liu and Zhang Xiaofeng, ed. Posts & Telecom Press, June 2016.[11]

Prizes edit

  • 2019: Fortune China’s list of 50 Most Influential Business Leaders[12]
  • 2018: 50 Most influential business leaders in China by Forbes China[13]
  • 2017: 50 Most Influential Business Leaders by Fortune China[14]
  • 2017: Global Game Changers by Forbes[15]
  • 2017: 20 Most Influential People in Tech list by the Time magazine[16]
  • 2016: Businessperson of the Year by Fortune magazine[17] and Forbes Asia's Businessman of the Year[18]
  • 2016: Wired 100 List.[19]
  • 2015: "Top 10 Economic Influencers of China" by Sina.com.[20]
  • 2015: "40 under 40" list by Fortune magazine.[21]

References edit

  1. ^ a b c d e "Uber Has Always Looked Unstoppable. Then It Went to China". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2016-10-10.
  2. ^ 宋丽. "Didi Chuxing receives $600m investment from China Life Insurance - Business - Chinadaily.com.cn". www.chinadaily.com.cn. Retrieved 2016-10-05.
  3. ^ Beijing, Paul Carsten (2016-08-11). "Didi's Cheng Wei: Chinese patriot who tamed Uber". Reuters. Retrieved 2016-10-07.
  4. ^ a b Kong, Eva Dou in Beijing and Juro Osawa in Hong (2016-08-17). "How Uber Rival's Founder Won Friends and Influenced Beijing". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2016-10-09.
  5. ^ "Cheng Wei". Executives in technology. Retrieved 13 June 2019.
  6. ^ a b "The Early Wisdom of Didi Founder Cheng Wei". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2016-10-10.
  7. ^ Wong, Gillian (2015-02-14). "Tencent, Alibaba-Backed Chinese Taxi-Hailing Apps to Merge". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2016-10-09.
  8. ^ Beijing, Alyssa Abkowitz in; Kong, Rick Carew in Hong (1 August 2016). "Uber Sells China Operations to Didi Chuxing". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
  9. ^ "Ranking of highest valued startup companies August 2016 | Statistic". Statista. Retrieved 2016-10-05.
  10. ^ "Introducing the Co-Chairs of our meeting in China". World Economic Forum. Retrieved 2016-10-07.
  11. ^ "《滴滴:分享经济改变中国》呈现互联网+2.0". book.sina.com.cn. Retrieved 2016-10-07.
  12. ^ "50 of China's most influential business leaders in 2019". Fortune. April 15, 2019.
  13. ^ Dept., Forbes China Editorial. "2018 Forbes China 50 Most Innovative Companies (Full List)". Forbes. Retrieved 2018-08-06.
  14. ^ "2017中国最具影响力的50位商界领袖 - 财富中文网". www.fortunechina.com. Retrieved 2017-07-20.
  15. ^ Gensler, Lauren. "The Global Game Changers List 2017: Evan Spiegel, Anne Wojcicki And Other Business Leaders Reshaping The World". Forbes. Retrieved 2017-07-20.
  16. ^ Pullen, Lisa Eadicicco, Alex Fitzpatrick, Matt Peckham, John Patrick. "The 20 Most Influential People in Tech Right Now". Time. Retrieved 2017-10-08.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  17. ^ "Cheng Wei". Fortune. 2016-11-10. Archived from the original on 2017-03-04. Retrieved 2017-03-04.
  18. ^ Wang, Yue. "Didi's Cheng Wei Is Forbes Asia's 2016 Businessman Of The Year". Forbes. Retrieved 2017-03-04.
  19. ^ "The Wired 100". Wired. Retrieved 2016-10-05.
  20. ^ "2015十大经济年度人物隆重揭晓". Retrieved 2016-10-07.
  21. ^ "Fortune's 2016 40 Under 40". 2016-09-22. Archived from the original on 2016-08-12. Retrieved 2016-10-05.