SHENZHEN-BASED Huawei Technologies Co., China s largest manufacturer of phone equipment, disclosed the full list of its executives for the first time Sunday, in a move aimed at improving its transparency following setbacks in overseas expansion.
In its annual report for 2010, Huawei listed all 18 members of the board of directors and board of supervisors, complete with their names, photos and resumes. It also disclosed the governance structure, giving the names of committee members under the board of directors, and the goals of these committees for the first time.
Some Western countries have suspected that Huawei is controlled by the Chinese military, partly because of its low transparency. An effort to expand in the United States for the past three years has run into opposition from U.S. lawmakers. In February, Huawei had to drop its planned purchase of patents from 3Leaf Systems to comply with a recommendation by the U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment. Prior to 3Leaf, Huawei failed in bids to acquire companies including 3Com Corp. in 2008 and 2Wire Inc. last year.
Huawei s latest move to become more transparent was aimed at clearing stumbling blocks on the way to overseas markets, Shenzhen Economic Daily said yesterday.
The company reported its net profit in 2010 rose to 23.8 billion yuan (US$3.64 billion) from 18.3 billion yuan a year earlier. Sales increased 24 percent to 185.2 billion yuan, it said.
Huawei received 65 percent of its revenue from international markets last year, up from 60 percent in 2009, according to the report.
Ren Zhengfei initially expanded the company he founded in 1987 into the international market by taking his China strategy of serving less-developed rural areas into Asia and Africa. Huawei is now concentrating on winning sales in Europe and the United States.
International sales jumped 34 percent to 120.4 billion yuan last year, the annual report said. It has narrowed the gap with global market leader Ericsson AB to less than two weeks of sales.
Huawei s Web site says the company is employee-owned, with Ren holding 1.4 percent of the shares and other employees owning 98.6 percent.
(SD News)
