Xiaomi has been struggling in their most important market, China, and has been taking tiny steps in the global market. It looks like the challenges of bringing the Chinese OEM to a bigger space has taken its toll on one of its top executives. Hugo Barra, the Vice President of Global Operations, has announced he is leaving the company after just three years in the position, saying the challenges of being based in Beijing and going around the various markets has taken a toll on his health.
In a Facebook post, Barra said he wanted to go back to Silicon Valley but considered his time at Xiaomi was “the greatest and most challenging adventure” of his life. He then cited the various milestones that the company has achieved the past few years, ever since he left a top job at Google. This includes having India as its top international market, expanding into Southeast Asia countries, launching their first official product in the US in partnership with Google, and winning 3 awards at the recently concluded CES 2017.
But of course behind all these achievements, there are rumors that there were a lot of conflicts behind the scenes and that Lei Jun, Xiaomi’s founder was not happy with the slow burn in the international market. And the fact that they have lost the number one spot in their most important market, China, doesn’t go over well with the higher ups.
A spokesman for the company emphasized though that Barra leaving was “for entirely personal reasons” and not due to any conflict within the company. As he is going back to Silicon Valley, there will probably be several companies interested to have him on board, if he doesn’t have a job lined up yet.
SOURCE: Hugo Barra
