CEO: Huawei sells Honor brand to save jobs

Huawei is selling its Honor brand to save employees’ jobs, according to a farewell speech by Huawei’s CEO. It concerns a total of ‘millions’ of people who have a job that depends on the success of the subsidiary brand, according to the CEO.

Huawei CEO Ren Zhengfei says in a farewell speech at the employee forum quoted by Reuters that it has become clear that the US government was not seeking to ban Huawei from mobile networks only with the trade ban. Wave after wave of harsh US sanctions against Huawei has made us realize that some US politicians are out to kill us, not correct us. Ren is probably referring to politicians from the administration of US President Donald Trump. The trade ban was established on the initiative of these ministers.

The decision to sell Honor to a consortium of companies led by the Shenzhen government stems from a desire to save the jobs of its own employees as well as those of suppliers and retailers. “We don’t have to drag innocent people into the abyss because we suffer,” said Ren. He called on Honor employees to strive to pass Huawei in time.

Honor accounted for about a quarter of Huawei’s smartphone shipments recently. The sale will allow Honor to buy parts from companies that Huawei is not allowed to do business with. There have been no Honor phones developed after the announcement of the sale, as it was only announced a week and a half ago. Honor has existed as a smartphone series since 2011 and as a subsidiary brand of Huawei since 2013.