Shein's CEO is so low-profile his employees don't even recognize him: report

Shein's executive chairman is more public, but he sparked scrutiny from Beijing in a recent speech. 

• Shein's CEO Xu Yangtian is staying out of the spotlight despite a hotly-anticipated IPO.
• Xu is so under the radar that his own employees don't recognize him in the office, the SCMP reported.
• Shein's executive chairman is more public, but he sparked scrutiny in a recent speech.

Fast-fashion giant Shein is gearing up for its widely-anticipated debut as a public company. But one key figure has stayed out of the spotlight: CEO Xu Yangtian, also known as Sky Xu.

The reclusive 40-year-old CEO, earlier referred to as Chris Xu, has avoided the kind of attention executives typically attract. He doesn't give interviews, speak at conferences, or have any public social media footprint despite leading a company boosted by TikTok.

Even Xu's own employees don't recognize him in the office, the South China Morning Post reported on Monday.

Shein senior advisor Frances Townsend told The Wall Street Journal — which ran an illustration of Xu in a December profile — that when she was in Shein's Guangzhou office last summer, nobody acknowledged the CEO sharing the elevator with them. Townsend highlighted the lack of interaction to Xu, who told her, "That's not our culture."

No verified photos of Xu exist, internally or externally. The SCMP said Xu's company photo is a basic landscape with the phrase: "If you have dreams, you are remarkable."

Bloomberg ranks Shein's founder as the 86th richest man in the world, with a net worth of $21.5 billion, based on the private company's scant filings. Bloomberg said a Shein spokesperson disputed that figure without explaining what was wrong.

Shein is expected to go public this year, although the big details, like when and for how much, are still under wraps. The Wall Street Journal reported in late May that a London filing could come weeks after the company faced roadblocks in the US.

If and when the company starts trading, Xu may finally emerge on the public stage. As a public company CEO, he'll be expected to participate in regular updates — UK companies are not required to have quarterly earnings calls, but most do — and interact with investors.

American culture celebrates founders who turn ideas into multi-billion-dollar companies. But Chinese executives must take care not to invite too much attention from party officials, who can exert significant power over their companies and personal lives. Alibaba founder Jack Ma disappeared from public for years after criticizing the government, and several other Chinese billionaires have similarly vanished in recent years.

Loyalty to China under scrutiny

So far, Shein's public face has been executive chairman Donald Tang. The Shanghai-born businessman, who became a US citizen as an adult, moved up the ranks at now-defunct investment bank Bear Stearns and joined Shein in 2021.

A recent speech Tang gave underscores the careful tightrope all Chinese executives walk — and why Xu may be staying out of public view. At the Milken Institute last month, Tang said Shein's roots are Chinese, while its headquarters make it Singaporean, but its ethos is American.

Tang's attempt to pacify officials on both sides of the Pacific attracted significant attention in Beijing. The company is still waiting for officials to greenlight its application to list outside of China.

"It raises questions of loyalty to China that some in Beijing find uncomfortable," a person familiar with the listing issue told the Financial Times on Friday.

Two Chinese business writers told the FT that Shein pressured them to skip writing about Tang's apparent gaffe, and the Milken Institute removed a video of the speech. The group did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment sent outside standard business hours, nor to the FT.

Shein did not immediately respond to a request for comment from BI.