Asian Tech Press (Mar. 28) -- Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou made her first appearance on Monday after returning to China, once again sparking speculation about her identity of Huawei successor.
Meng Wanzhou, the daughter of Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei, attended an event at the company's Shenzhen headquarters on Monday to present the company's 2021 results and answer questions from global media outlets.
Meng, who attended Huawei's earnings conference again after four years, said, "We have become smaller, but our profitability and cash flow access are increasing, and the company's ability to cope with uncertainty is improving."
Huawei achieved global sales revenue of 636.8 billion yuan ($100.0 billion) and net profit of 113.7 billion yuan ($17.9 billion), up 75.9% year-on-year, according to Meng's earnings report.
Meng noted that Huawei's core competitiveness lies in its long-term investment in research and development, in its R&D team and R&D capabilities. She said Huawei's R&D investment is not constrained by profits.
According to the data of R&D investment in the past 10 years, Huawei's R&D investment accounted for 13.2% of revenue scale in 2013, and rose to 22.4% last year, a historical high level of R&D investment.
Meng said that for the future, Huawei continues to increase its R&D investment, with R&D investment reaching 142.7 billion yuan ($22.4 billion) in 2021, accounting for 22.4% of annual revenue, and a cumulative R&D investment of nearly 850 billion yuan ($133.5 billion) in ten years.
Joined Huawei in 1993, Meng served as director of international accounting department, CFO of Huawei Hong Kong, president of account management department, and now CFO and Vice Chairman of the Board.
In 2011, the then CFO Liang Hua stepped down and Meng, who had worked in Huawei's finance division for 18 years, officially became the company's managing director and CFO.
And in the latest board of directors' general election, Meng succeeded her father Ren Zhengfei as vice chairman, which was considered the first step for Meng to take over Huawei, although it was repeatedly denied by Ren.
In early 2019, Ren Zhengfei, founder and CEO of Huawei, talked about whether his daughter Meng Wanzhou would become Huawei's successor in a BBC interview.
In the interview, Ren said, "She could never become my successor, because she has no technical background. My successor must have the ability to gain technical insights and be able to make judgments about future technologies and customer needs."
"She does not have that particular quality that is required for strong leadership, to point the way forward like a beacon. She is not my successor for sure," Ren stated.
At the end of 2019, when Meng remained under house arrest in Canada, Ren re-emphasized in an interview that leaders of a technology company like Huawei need to have a deep technical background.
Ren said, "Meng Wanzhou will continue to be the CFO after she comes back, but of course the CFO will have a stronger will."
Because of so impressive resume, outsiders have still been guessing that Meng Wanzhou, who returned home after 1,028 days of house arrest in Canada, will be Huawei's next successor.
Meng was arrested by Canadian police at the request of the U.S. government for mutual legal assistance while on a layover in Canada on Dec. 1, 2018.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) announced the charges against Meng on January 29, 2019, and formally requested her extradition from Canada, accusing Meng of "concealing Huawei's business dealings with Iran" and "committing fraud against HSBC" in order to avoid the U.S. sanctions against Iran.
Following the Chinese government's persistent efforts, the U.S. DoJ reached a deferred prosecution agreement with Meng on September 24, 2021, and Canada then announced Meng's release.
On September 25, 2021, Meng returned to her home country on a charter flight arranged by the Chinese government.
(US$1 = 6.3687 yuan)
