Huawei chief rules out family successor

Ren Zhengfei, chief executive of Chinese telecoms giant, says his successor will come from outside the family circle

The next chief executive of Huawei Technologies will not be a family member of founder Ren Zhengfei, a Reuters article claimed over the weekend.

Ren, who founded the company in Shenzhen in 1987, also revealed in a letter to employees, which was leaked to Reuters, that the firm, which ranks as the global number five smartphone manufacturer, has no plans to list in the next five to 10 years.

It allegedly read: "Huawei's successor should not only have vision, character and ambition, like what we have said before, but also a good global perspective and the acumen to drive the business.

"My family members do not possess these qualities. Thus, we will never be in the running of the successor race," Ren is believed to have penned.

At present, Huawei has a rotating chief executive system, where three executives take turns as acting chief executive for six-month stints. Ren's son and daughter, who work at the firm, are not part of the rotation.

The firm is on an upward trajectory, with revenue growing eight per cent in 2013. Turnover for the 2012 calendar year rose to 220.2bn Chinese yuan (CNY) (£23.2bn), up from CNY203.9bn the previous year. Net profit rose 32 per cent to CNY15.4bn, equating to net margins of about seven per cent.