Hugo Barra, who joined Xiaomi as Vice President of Xiaomi Global back in August, 2013 from Google has announced his departure from the company. He said that he will go back to Silicon Valley in February after Chinese New Year. He says that his decision has been strongly motivated by a feeling of detachment from his family and the life he had built up in Silicon Valley.
He was one of the main reasons for the expansion of Xiaomi outside China. Xiaomi is already selling its products in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, India, Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia, Brazil, and Middle East and North Africa. It announced its plans to expand to Vietnam, Russia, Turkey and Mexico back in 2014, but it put its expansion plans on hold.
Barra will be succeeded by Xiang Wang, who is already a senior vice president at Xiaomi. He will remain an advisor to Xiaomi indefinitely.
In a Facebook post he said:
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.