A 17-year Internet industry veteran will join Xiaomi as vice president to oversee a new US$1 billion fund that will invest in TV and related content.
Chen Tong, who was Sina.com’s editor-in-chief, will move to Xiaomi after working in Sina for 17 years. Chen, with 4.6 million followers on Sina Weibo, will help Xiaomi expand its business in TV, set-top box and related content business.
"Chen is familiar with social media and content,” Lei Jun, Xiaomi’s co-founder, said on Weibo. “His joining will help diversify Xiaomi’s engineering and designer talent structure and culture.”
Chen will operate Xiaomi’s TV and video content business with another Xiaomi co-founder Wang Chuan.
Beijing-based Xiaomi, which became the world’s third-largest smartphone vendor by the end of September three years after debuting its first phone, wants to copy that success in TV and video content by offering integrated services in software and hardware.
Xiaomi aims to create a smart home ecosystem for phone, TV, set-top box, router and other devices in the long term.