Suning Appoints New CEO (Yet Again) For PPTV

PPTV's employees have received an appointment notice stating that Mi Xin will become new president and chief executive officer of PPTV, according to an insider from the company.

Since being acquired by Suning in 2013, PPTV's CEO has changed three times.

The notice included three appointments. Fan Zhijun was appointed chairman of management committee of PPTV, leading the resource sharing, coordination, and major decision management between the group and PPTV. Fan will also be responsible for PPTV's sports channel, human resources, finance, public relations, and plan management. Mi Xin was appointed president and CEO of PPTV, leading the company's daily operation management as well as video business, copyright procurement, OTT, and gaming business. Zhang Xun was appointed vice president of PPTV, and fully commands PPTV's sports channel.

In October 2013, Suning announced that the company would cooperate with Legend Holdings to jointly invest USD420 million in PPTV. With the transaction, Suning became the largest shareholder of PPTV with a 44% stake, while Legend Holdings' Hony Capital became the second largest shareholder with a 29.9% stake.

After the acquisition, many PPTV executives, including founder and CEO Tao Chuang, departed the company in March 2014 and Legend Holdings executive Lv Yan was appointed CEO of PPTV. On November 25, 2014, Suning announced that PPTV's board of directors appointed Fan Zhijun, vice president of Suning Commerce, as acting CEO of PPTV, replacing Lv.