Richard Liu is the founder and chairman of JD.com, China’s second largest internet retailer. In 2011, he was named one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World, and in 2013 he received honorary doctoral degrees from the University of Pennsylvania Business School and Princeton University. Richard is also one of Forbes Asia’s 50 Richest People in 2018, with over $12 billion USD net worth.
Richard Liu started his career in 1994 at Goldman Sachs in New York, where he was a fixed-income trader. Richard left three years later to start Jingdong with USD 60,000 from his wife’s family. Today, Jingdong is China’s largest online direct sales retailer and one of the largest e-commerce companies in the World.
Liu Qiangdong has been called the “Godfather Of China’s retail revolution” by TIME Magazine and “one of China’s most admired entrepreneurs” by BusinessWeek. Richard has also been referred to as an “e-commerce god” by CEBNet and a “national treasure” by Tencent Chairman Pony Ma.
Richard is a true entrepreneur. Before Jingdong’s success, Richard dropped out of Penn’s Wharton School of Business to start an ice cream shop, which soon went bankrupt. He then worked as a debt collector, where he came up with the idea of selling books online. The experience was life-changing for Richard, and he went on to found his company. As JD grew into one of the largest e-commerce companies in China, Richard struggled with many challenges along the way. But he eventually found success by staying true to his own personal vision.
On June 25, 2013, Richard received a Doctorate of Humane Letters from the University of Pennsylvania for his “lifelong commitment to advancing the concept of equality.” The citation stated that “Richard Liu has been among China’s most outspoken advocates for human rights and greater equality between men and women.” At that time he also held an honorary doctorate in Business Administration from Princeton University. On December 17, 2013, he was awarded one of China’s highest honors, the Order of Friendship. See related link for additional information.
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