Cheng Wei (born 19 May 1983) is a Chinese businessman.[1] He is the founder, chairman and CEO of DiDi, a Chinese mobile transportation platform with global operations.[2] In 2012, after eight years at Alibaba Group's regional and Alipay's operations, Cheng founded Beijing Xiaoju Technology Co Ltd in Zhongguancun.[3]
Cheng was born in 1983 in Jiangxi, China.[1] He received a bachelor's degree in administration from Beijing University of Chemical Technology.[4]
After graduation, Cheng served as an assistant to a chairman at a foot massage company. About one year later, Cheng applied to join Alibaba as a sales person for its business-to-business e-commerce service in 2005.[1]
For six years at Alibaba, Cheng served as a sales manager for the northern region of China. He later moved to China's largest third-party online payment platform, Alipay, where he was soon promoted to the position of regional manager.[4][6]
In 2012, Cheng left Alibaba to found Beijing Xiaoju Technology Co and launch Didi Dache—translated to "Beep Beep Call a Taxi"—as the initial incarnation of his ride-hailing service.[1]
In 2014, Cheng hired Jean Liu (Liu Qing), a former Goldman Sachs Asia managing director, as the COO of the company.[6]
In February 2015, the company merged with its rival Kuaidi Dache and was renamed Didi Kuaidi (later renamed Didi Chuxing or "DiDi").[7]
Fortune named Cheng to its "40 Under 40" list in 2015[9] and selected him as one of its "Businessperson of the Year" honorees in 2016.[10] The same year, Forbes Asia named him its Businessman of the Year,[11] and Wired included him on the Wired 100.[12] In 2017, Time placed him on its list of the 20 most influential people in technology.[13]
