China-based phone maker Xiaomi will be losing the man who made it popular in India. Hugo Barra, Xiaomi's vice president of international, has tendered his resignation to the company.
Barra has been with Xiaomi since 2013. Prior to joining Xiaomi, he served as an executive in the U.S. tech giant Google. Since then, Xiaomi has grown into one of the largest startup companies, Bloomberg News reported.
Barra has been living in Beijing, which is known for its smog. The former Google and Xiaomi executive said that he is leaving China to return to the U.S. because living in a "singular environment" has started to impact his health.
His departure is expected to have limited impact on Xiaomi. The phone maker's brand standing in the international setting has stabilized, particularly in India where it is widely recognized.
However, analysts believe that his resignation reflects Xiaomi's next move. Some industry observers have speculated that with Barra gone, Xiaomi will now refocus all its sales and marketing efforts in China.
In India, Xiaomi has enjoyed billions of dollars in revenue. However, it failed to be successful in its domestic market, which is China. Its sales and revenue could not keep up with its competitors.
Venture Beat reported that Xiaomi founder Bin Lin chose Xiaomi Vice President Xiang Wang to succeed Barra. While the founder boasted about the phone maker's future expansion plans, analysts believe that the near-term plan is to focus on China first and maintain its current standing in India. It appears that entering the U.S. market would be challenging because of Apple and Samsung.
With regard to Silicon Valley, the newly inaugurated U.S. President Donald Trump reportedly talked to tech executives Balaji Srinivasan and Jim O'Neill in order to offer them jobs in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, according to Jobs & Hire.
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