Time and Location: 

August 28

Yale Center Beijing
8 Jianguomenwai Avenue
36th Floor
Tower B of IFC Building
(Yong'anli Subway Station, Exit C)

Registration:

Please register by sending a scanned copy of your business card, Yale school and class year (if applicable), and a question that you would like to pose to Mr. Liu to yalecenterbeijing@yale.edu by August 25, 2015. We will notify successful registrants about the time by August 26, 2015. Priority for entry goes to Yale alumni and students, but non-Yale alumni are also welcome.

This event will be in Chinese, with simultaneous translation into English.

Yale Center Beijing wishes to thank David Topolewski (Yale '83) for his generous support of the event.

The Speaker:

Richard Liu is the founder of JD.com (NASDAQ: JD), China’s largest online direct sales company, and has been its chairman and CEO since the company’s inception. Mr. Liu has over 15 years of experience in the retail and e-commerce industries.  In June 1998, Mr. Liu started a business in Beijing, primarily engaged in the distribution of magneto-optical products. In January 2004, Mr. Liu launched his first online retail website. He founded the company that eventually became JD.com later that year, and has guided its development and growth ever since.

Under Mr. Liu’s leadership, JD.com has developed several business units, some of which include: JD Mall, the company’s primary e-commerce platform; JD Finance, which provides financing and crowdfunding tools; and JD Smart, which is partnering with companies to develop and sell smart products. The company listed on NASDAQ in May 2014 in the largest IPO of the year on that exchange. For the full year 2014, gross merchandise value, or GMV, through JD.com reached RMB 260.2 billion. As of 30 June 2015, JD.com had around 90,000 employees.

Mr. Liu has been named one of the Top 50 Most Influential Business Leaders by Fortune (Chinese edition) each of the last three years. He earned his bachelor's degree in sociology from People's University of China in Beijing, and an EMBA degree from the China Europe International Business School.