BEIJING (Reuters), China’s Haidilao announced today that Zhang Yong, the billionaire founder of its chain of hotpot restaurants in China, has resigned as CEO. His focus will now be on long-term strategic planning.

In March, Yang Lijuan (43) was appointed chief operating officer and deputy CEO of Haidilao.

Li Yu (36 years old) was appointed as COO for its mainland China operations, while Wang Jinping (38) was made COO for its Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan operations.

Citi analysts reported in a note that these appointments underlined Citi’s resolve to revamp its management, “via bringing ahead its senior management transition for its aggressive store restructuring plans.”

Haidilao increased store number aggressively in the early 2020s, but since then has seen a decline in earnings and table turnover. It announced that it was closing 300 stores in November.

Last week, the company said it would report a loss of $3.8 billion to 4.5 trillion yuan (600m to $710m). This is mainly due to unanticipated losses from closing of restaurants.

Zhang, 52 years old, was born in China’s Sichuan region, but is now Singaporean citizen. He will still be the chairman.

Haidilao shares were 1.7% lower in morning trading Wednesday than the 0.9% drop for the.

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