(Yicai Global) May 8 -- Liu Yaoping, former chief executive of Baofeng Group’s television manufacturing arm Baofeng TV, has joined hard- and software maker Xiaomi’s TV unit as it picks off a number of executives from Chinese tech firms, The Paper cited an insider as saying.

The source claimed Liu will take up the general manager position, the report added, but saying Xiaomi TV and Liu himself have not made any official comments. The executive did, however, post a picture on Weibo yesterday of him eating millet porridge -- a homophone for Xiaomi in Chinese -- at the Xiaomi Science and Technology Park in Beijing.

Liu is former head of the TV businesses at tech manufacturer Skyworth Group and Chinese appliance giant Haier Group. He started his own business in 2014 and became CEO of Baofeng TV in 2015 before launching Baofeng Internet TV to compete with Xiaomi TV and LeTV. There have been reports that Baofeng TV’s parent would dissolve since its actual controller Feng Xin was detained in July 2019.

Former Gionee President Lu Weibing, founder of Xiaolaijiao Xiao Yanjun, and former head of Lenovo’s mobile phone business, Chang Cheng, have all recently joined Xiaomi, which shipped nearly 10.5 million TV sets in China last year to top the sector with a 19.25 percent market share.

Editor: James Boynton