Cross-border E-commerce Unicorn SHEIN Responds to Relocation of Headquarters to Singapore
Reuters reported on Thursday, citing people with knowledge of the matter, that China’s cross-border e-commerce unicorn SHEIN has made a Singapore firm its holding company, and Chris Xu, SHEIN’s founder and CEO, has also become a permanent resident of the city-state.
After analyzing public documents, Reuters found that Singapore-registered Roadget Business Pte. Ltd. was established in 2019 and since late 2021 has been the legal entity operating SHEIN’s global website. Roadget also now owns Guangzhou SHEIN International Import & Export Co Ltd as well as SHEIN’s trademarks.
SHEIN was established in 2008, and its main operating body in China is Nanjing Top Plus Information Technology Co Ltd. According to the public information on Tianyancha, SHEIN de-registered the company in April 2021, and Chris Xu is no longer in a legal role in any of the domestic companies related to SHEIN.
The company’s profile page on LinkedIn shows Singapore as its home base. SHEIN aims to quadruple the number of its Singapore employees to around 200 by the end of the year, according to two people familiar with the matter.
China media outlet Jiemian News asked SHEIN for verification on this matter and received the following response: “We are a cross-border e-commerce firm. In order to better promote local business development, facilitate service users and meet the regulatory requirements of the local government, we have set multiple centers globally, and the positioning and functions of each center have not changed. China is an important center for us, and we will also have centers in other core markets, such as the U.S. and Singapore. Recruitment around the world is normal.” The spokesman also said that Chris Xu is still a Chinese citizen.
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Although SHEIN, as a private enterprise, does not need to disclose its business conditions, it is reported that its sales revenue in 2021 was about $15.7 billion.
