(Yicai Global) July 3 -- When China’s on-demand services giant Meituan Dianping restructured its business last month, it sparked speculation that co-founder Wang Huiwen would retire early. The firm told Yicai Global today that Wang has not changed his plan to exit at the end of the year.

According to media reports, Wang on June 29 posted a verse on his WeChat Moments by the famous Chinese poet Xu Zhimo: “Very quietly I take my leave, as quietly as I came here.” Having sold 2 million Meituan shares in May for CNY270 million (USD38.2 million), this led to speculation that he would retire early.

Beijing-based Meituan told Yicai Global that the rumors are untrue and the stake sale was a personal plan.

Wang, 42, will withdraw from the company’s management affairs in December, but will stay on as a director, and serve as a lifetime honorary advisor of Meituan, co-founder Wang Xing said in an internal letter in January. Wang Huiwen will also be a special lecturer in an internet college engaged in work related to strategic planning, organizational inheritance and talent development.

Public information shows that Meituan has three co-founders: Wang Xing, Mu Rongjun and Wang Huiwen, who is also the pioneer of Meituan’s core takeaway business.

The power bank, bike, bus, and map businesses in the location-based service platform, which Wang Huiwen managed, were integrated into the Meituan platform this year and Vice President Li Shubin, who took office at the end of last year, is the person responsible and reports to Wang. The original LBS platform/transport business department was changed to the transport business department, with Wang remaining in charge.

Wang also leads the Dianping division. Huang Hai, the former head of the unit, left due to personal reasons in May, making way for Wang.

Early this year, Meituan launched a talent pipeline development program and made organizational changes to improve the process for reviewing staff, increase rotation opportunities and train successors for the next decade. The program is progressing steadily, the company told Yicai Global.

Editors: Zhang Yushuo, Peter Thomas