iQIYI Hires Former Netflix Exec to Help Overseas Strategy

iQIYI, online video platform based in Beijing, announced its appointment of Kuek Yu-Chuang as vice president of international business, effective immediately.

“Kuek’s appointment is emblematic of our global plans,” said Yang Xianghua, president of the membership and overseas Business Group at iQIYI. “I look forward to seeing Kuek’s leadership, across markets and cultures, accelerate the company’s global expansion.”

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Kuek will oversee the establishment of iQIYI‘s overseas market operation platform and the company’s global strategic planning, market expansion, public affairs and business development in its global markets.

Prior to joining iQIYI, Kuek was a vice president and managing director for Asia Pacific at Netflix in 2016. He began his career as a Singapore diplomat, trade negotiator and policy-maker, then moved into the private sector at ICANN Asia Pacific and Yahoo! Inc. Kuek studied at Peking University and later obtained post-graduate degrees from Harvard University and INSEAD.

The appointment is expected to save iQIYI’s recent business loss. Though the company gained 23% of users in the first quarter of 2020 from a year earlier, it lost $406 million in Q1, on revenue of $1.1 billion.

iQIYI launched its international app in June 2019. It has established localized functions for technology products, user operations and content operations for its overseas expansion.