Asian Tech Press (Mar. 21) -- Two Chinese media outlets are being sued by Xiaomi founder Lei Jun for refusing to take down articles linking him to Lenovo founder Liu Chuanzhi.
A Chinese media personality revealed that he had received a complaint from billionaire Lei Jun over the weekend.
The filing showed that Xiaomi took the media personality and the operating entity of Chinese media outlet Phoenix New Media Ltd. (NYSE: FENG) to court, demanding the deletion of the article that linked Xiaomi's failure to Lei Jun's mentorship from Liu Chuanzhi.
Some people also broke the news that Lei Jun, who previously recognized Liu Chuanzhi as his godfather or guru, now did not want to tie himself to Liu. There were also rumors that Xiaomi's public relation officer asked various media outlets and personalities to draw a line between Lei and Liu.
Lenovo founder Liu Chuanzhi has been known as a godfather figure in China's private sector, respected by Chinese entrepreneurs such as Jack Ma and Lei Jun.
The logic of Lenovo's trade-oriented start-up has influenced a generation of Chinese entrepreneurs, and Xiaomi founder Lei Jun is one of them.
On the occasion of Xiaomi's Hong Kong IPO in 2018, Lei Jun said in an interview that as the CEO of a company, he did have a few people he admired, and the first among them was Liu Chuanzhi, and the second was Steve Jobs.
Lei Jun said that when he started as CEO 20 years ago, he spent a long time studying Liu, learning aspects including the management of the company and the state of mind. He believed that Liu still influenced a large number of entrepreneurs in Zhongguancun, the technology hub in China's capital.
Industry insiders believe that Lei Jun's business roadmap for Xiaomi is to a large extent a copy of Lenovo's approach. However, amid Apple's push for a complete lineup of high-end, mid-range and low-end products, Xiaomi is increasingly feeling pressure from Apple, and the stock price has clearly reflected it.
Around the time Apple released its latest low-cost iPhone SE smartphone, Xiaomi shares have fallen to $1.66 per share, a more than 15% drop in 5 days.
Additionally, the media source said that because of Lei Jun's complaints, he found that the Chinese billionaire has 2 ID cards.
When issuing Chinese Depositary Receipts (CDRs) in China, Xiaomi's prospectus showed that Lei Jun's ID number was "1101081969*****", located in Beijing. However, the ID number on a complaint is "42**************57", and the complainant surnamed Lei, is registered in Xiantao, Hubei, the same place of birth as Lei Jun.
According to the Law of the People's Republic of China on Resident Identity Cards, the civil ID number is a unique and lifelong identity code for each citizen, prepared by the public security authorities in accordance with the national standard for civil identification numbers. It means that in China, a citizen may have only one ID code.
Even more, if it is true that Lei Jun has 2 ID cards, it is a violation of China's ID card law and a complete departure from his status as a representative of the National People's Congress (NPC) and a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).
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