Chinese technology giant Huawei has named the company’s new replacement CEO. Eric Xu’s term in this post expired on September 30 – he was replaced by Sabrina Meng, who took the position of interim and acting chairman of Huawei for a period from October 1, 2024 to March 31, 2025, the company said in a press release .
Image source: huawei.com
During her term in this position, Meng will hold the company’s senior management position, chairing its board of directors and executive committee. She is the daughter of Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei, who is the director of the company. Meng first took up the post of interim chairman of Huawei on April 19, 2023, so this is now her second term in this position.
The rotating chairman system is Huawei’s unique management model: the company introduced a COO rotation system in 2004, which evolved into a chairman rotation system in 2018. Huawei currently has three rotating chairmen: Eric Xu, Sabrina Meng and Ken Hu, with rotation occurring every six months. A rotation system helps a company view strategy and operations from different perspectives, thereby avoiding bias and rigidity in personal decision-making. On the other hand, analysts say, this could lead to double accountability because it is impossible to implement a strategy from start to finish in six months.
Sabrina Meng has been with Huawei since 1993, having previously served as director of the global accounting department, chief financial officer of the company in Hong Kong, and president of the accounting management department. She now combines the positions of interim chairman and chief financial officer of Huawei. In 2018, Meng was arrested in Canada at the request of the United States on suspicion of bank fraud. In September 2021, she settled claims by American prosecutors, easing tensions between the countries.