Sky Xu, the intensely private Chinese billionaire founder of fast-fashion group Shein, will be thrust into the spotlight when the ecommerce group, once valued at $100bn, launches its planned listing next year.
There is scant information available online about the man whose company’s explosive growth was made possible by the social media age. Shein’s website bears no photograph of Xu, who has never given a media interview nor posted online for eight years. He flies so under the radar that employees joke that they do not recognise him at the office, according to several people who have worked with him in recent years.
In the past couple of years, the billionaire has changed his English name from Chris to Sky, leaving staff and investors confused about what they should call him. One person who has worked with him described him as a bespectacled and “shy” person while another says he is a little “rough around the edges”.