CHINA BRIEF | Luckin appoints logistics veteran Guo Jinyi as new CEO and chairman
Luckin Coffee (OCTMKTS: LKNCY) has appointed its former acting CEO Guo Jinyi as the chairman of the company’s board and the CEO, taking over Charles Lu Zhengyao, and has added four new independent directors to the board. The move, announced via a filing made with US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on July 13, caps a tumultuous management shakeup at the scandal-hit firm.
The company held an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders on the request of Lu-owned Haode Investment Inc on July 5. The meeting voted four people off the board—Lu, Centurium Capital founder Li Hui, Joy Capital founder Liu Erhai, and independent director Sean Shao, who was the head of Luckin’s internal probe. Meanwhile, Yang Jie and Zeng Ying, two business veterans, have been added to the board.
Read more: Who is Luckin’s new interim CEO? Meet Guo Jinyi
Additionally, a board meeting on July 12 decided Guo’s takeover and added Cha Yang, formerly the president of the Tsinghua Education Foundation North America, and Liu Feng, director of the Center for Accounting Studies at Xiamen University, to the board, according to the SEC filing.
The company, embroiled in a USD 300 million accounting scandal, was booted from Nasdaq in June and now trades as “LKNCY” in the the over-the-counter market at USD 2.9 per share.
This article is part of KrASIA’s “China Brief” section, where KrASIA’s reporters will provide quick daily updates about the tech ecosystem in China.