(Reuters) – JD (NASDAQ-:).com Inc appointed Lei Xu as its chief executive officer to replace founder Richard Liu. He officially handed the reins of Chinese e-commerce firm after he had served the position for several months.

Xu has been with JD.com more than a decade and will immediately start in the top position, according to the company. He will also be joining the board of directors as an executive director.

JD.com has appointed Xu to manage slowing growth due to increased competition and shrinking consumer spending amid tightened Chinese regulations that target e-commerce platforms.

According to local media reports, JD.com recently cut jobs and increased layoffs during March. Other Chinese tech companies are also cutting their workforce in order to reduce costs in an economically weaker region. JD.com shares that are U.S. listed have almost halved from their peak of February 2021.

Reuters last month reported that China’s Internet giants are growing. Alibaba (NYSE: ) Group and Tencent Holdings are in preparation for rounds of layoffs this year which might result in the loss of tens to thousands of jobs.

JD.com’s core ecommerce businesses remained stable, and job cuts were taking place at its marginal business, stated Liu Xingliang of China Internet Data Center, president tech consultancy China.

He said, “Richard Liu will hand over the baton and Xu Lei will handle the daily business.”

Richard founded JD.com, a company which would eventually become JD.com, in 1998. He had previously called out the “slackers” in the firm. Richard will now spend more time coaching younger managers and concentrate on JD.com’s rural business.

Liu will continue to be chairman with 80% of his voting share according to the 2020 annual report.

After being accused of rape in 2018 by a University of Minnesota student, Liu slowly stepped back from the spotlight. He was defended by his representatives and he wasn’t charged as the U.S. couldn’t find enough evidence to support the claims.

JD.com stated that Liu would leave the day-today operations in September and will be replaced by Xu. Xu will then focus his attention on JD.com’s longer-term strategy.