Great Wall Wine's GM Has Title Stripped for Breaking Rules
Luan Li
DATE:  Sep 20 2019
/ SOURCE:  yicai
Great Wall Wine's GM Has Title Stripped for Breaking Rules Great Wall Wine's GM Has Title Stripped for Breaking Rules

(Yicai Global) Sept. 19 -- Li Shiyi, the general manager of Great Wall Wine, China's biggest vintner by volume, has been dismissed from his role because of disciplinary violations.

Communist Party officials at parent company COFCO Wines & Spirits made the decision to remove Li from the position in line with regulations, according to a company document obtained by Yicai Global yesterday. Li also lost his party post and title as deputy GM at COFCO Wines & Spirits as a punishment. He is replaced at Great Wall by Deputy GM Liu Xin.

Li joined Beijing-based COFCO, China's biggest food supplier, in July 2007. He worked in various departments at the state-owned firm before being appointed deputy GM at COFCO Wines & Spirits and GM of its imported wine business in 2016. He was named Great Wall's GM two years ago. But since the start of this year, the number of positions he held began to shrink.

Despite Li's dismissal as GM, the alcohol division's management remains otherwise unchanged, an anonymous insider at COFCO Wines & Spirits told Yicai Global. The change will have little impact on existing business, and whether Li eventually leaves the firm has not yet been determined, the source added.

Yicai Global contacted a number of industry insiders about the change in senior personnel at COFCO Wines & Spirits, but they were reluctant to comment.

Great Wall suffered years of losses. Li turned it around. Last year, he notched up 27 percent revenue growth and returned the company to profit thanks to big changes to its product range and sales channels.

But since the first half of this year China's wine sector has been lackluster. It also remains to be seen whether the executive change at Great Wall Wine will throw a spanner in its works.

Editor: Tang Shihua

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Keywords:   Great Wall Wine