As Shein heads towards IPO, its Chinese billionaire founder stays under cloak of secrecy

17/06/2024

Even by the standards of Chinese tech business leaders, the lack of public information about Xu Yangtian is unusual

Xu Yangtian, the founder of Chinese-originated fast-fashion shopping app Shein, has deliberately kept himself from the public eye for fear of attracting unwanted attention, sources say, as the company seeks to raise GBP50 billion (US$64 billion) from an initial public offering (IPO) in London.

While it has become a trend in recent years for tech entrepreneurs in China to keep a low profile, the lengths that the Shein CEO - also known as Sky Xu or Chris Xu - has taken to avoid personal publicity stand out among his peers.

The company has never published any photos of him. Neither has he made any public speeches throughout his career, even as Shein became an increasingly familiar e-commerce brand around the world. Shein has not released any IPO prospectus or details about its business operations.

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According to multiple people who worked with Xu, the Chinese billionaire has decided to stay away from the limelight because of his personality and the belief that any attention drawn to him could only add to the scrutiny faced by Shein.

"Ordinary, quiet, humble" - that was how Liu Mingguang, a supply chain adviser for Shein from 2015 to 2021, described Xu. The unassuming image, however, belies how much of a quick learner he was, Liu said.

In the early days of Shein, Xu and Henry Ren Xiaoqing, the firm's head of supply chain management, reached out to Liu through a mutual contact to pick his brains on how to source clothing from Chinese wholesalers to sell abroad and use software to manage a large number of orders. "He just listened quietly and didn't say much, only starting discussions after the training was over," Liu recalled.

Several former and current employees at Shein told the South China Morning Post that the wiry, bespectacled Xu often goes unnoticed by staff in the office.

As is common in the Chinese tech industry, employees at Shein like to share memes based on their boss. But since there are no available photos of Xu - the CEO's internal profile picture consists of the slogan "if you have dreams, you are remarkable", overlaid on a generic natural landscape - those memes are made up of text only.

A consultant who worked for Xu and declined to be named to protect his business relationships, said the entrepreneur finds more value in getting things done than feeding his ego. "He basically sees no point in exposing himself to possible questioning," the consultant said.

Shein declined to comment on this story.

as shein heads towards ipo, its chinese billionaire founder stays under cloak of secrecy

A Shein pop-up store at a mall in Singapore. Photo: Reuters

Despite his hard-fought attempt at secrecy, public scrutiny on Xu, who reportedly obtained permanent residency in Singapore as part of Shein's efforts to soften its perceived ties with China, has only increased. It is unknown whether Xu continues to hold a Chinese passport.

Shein's executive chairman Donald Tang said at a Milken Institute conference in Los Angeles last month that the company can be seen as Chinese, as it was born in China and still maintains many employees and suppliers there. But he said it can also be regarded as Singaporean because it is registered there, and American because its biggest market is the US and the business follows American values.

Shein is trying to play down those comments over concerns that they could displease Chinese authorities and potentially derail its IPO plans, according to a report by the Financial Times over the weekend.

It remains unclear whether Shein needs to get its proposed listing cleared by mainland regulators, including the China Securities Regulatory Commission and the Cyberspace Administration of China.

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