ADVERTISEMENT

ZTE Names 20-Year Veteran Xu as CEO, Replaces Senior Management

ZTE Names 20-Year Veteran Xu as CEO, Replaces Senior Management

(Bloomberg) -- ZTE Corp. has appointed a 20-year veteran to lead the Chinese telecoms firm as the U.S. weighs an end to a seven-year ban.

Board members unanimously voted in Xu Ziyang, who was most recently in charge of the firm’s wireless-network products, to replace Zhao Xianming, according to a Hong Kong stock exchange filing. Wang Xiyu, Gu Junying and Li Ying, who was also selected as chief financial officer, were named vice presidents.

New leadership was one of several conditions in an agreement struck between ZTE and the U.S. to end a ban on technology purchases that crippled its business. The Chinese company also agreed to pay a steep fine for violating sanctions on exports to Iran and North Korea, then lying about it.

The Trump administration is already easing some restrictions on ZTE. The shares have lost about half their value in Hong Kong since they resumed trading in June.

To contact the reporter on this story: Sofia Horta e Costa in Hong Kong at shortaecosta@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Richard Frost at rfrost4@bloomberg.net, Philip Glamann

©2018 Bloomberg L.P.