In an early morning development, Hugo BarraXiaomi global VP Xiaomi announced his exit from the company to return to his roots – Silicon Valley. He had joined Xiaomi way back in 2013 when it was a relatively unknown startup.
Brazil-born, former Android executive has played a crucial role in creating brand awareness about Xiaomi and its products in the last 3.5 years. Barra said in a Facebook post announcing his departure, ” What I’ve realized is that the last few years of living in such a singular environment have taken a huge toll on my life and started affecting my health. My friends, what I consider to be my home, and my life are back in Silicon Valley, which is also much closer to my family. Seeing how much I’ve left behind these past few years, it is clear to me that the time has come to return.
Assuring his fans that Xiaomi is well placed in the global smartphone arena he added, “As I thought about this late last year, I concluded that Xiaomi is in a very good place on its global expansion path, and if there was ever going to be a good time for me to come back home, that time is now — when I can confidently say our global business is no longer just an in-house startup. We turned India from a dream into Xiaomi’s largest international market with $1 billion in annual revenues, faster than any company in India’s history. We expanded into Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, and more recently 20 other markets including Russia, Mexico, and Poland. We teamed up with Google to launch our first official product in the US, and with our successful debut at CES 2017 — where we won 3 prestigious awards — the world now sees that Xiaomi is a global player changing the tech industry through our simple promise.”
Barra said he will leave Xiaomi in February following Chinese New Year. His immediate plan is to take some time off to rest before “embarking on a new adventure back in Silicon Valley.”
But is it the end of Barra’s association with Xiaomi. We are not sure. Going by the cult following he has among the Xiaomi Fans and the way he has closely monitored product development one never knows that he may be associated with the company at some level going forward. Also, there may be a possibility that the new startup he plans to launch may work closely with Xiaomi.
As of now, nothing concrete is known about Barra’s future plans and the complete picture will be unveiled in the days to come ( picture abhibaki hai!). Until that time The Mobile Indian would like to wish Hugo Barra all the best for hisfuture endeavours.