Huawei’s consumer sales head detained in corruption probe

Bloomberg

Huawei Technologies Co., China’s biggest maker of smartphones, said the head of sales for its domestic consumer business has been detained in a
corruption investigation.
Police have taken immediate action on Teng Hongfei on “suspicion of taking bribes,” the Shenzhen-based company said. Teng ran Chinese consumer sales for the company, which over the past year rose to No 1 in smartphones at home and No 3 globally to become a major rival to Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co.
The arrest is a blow to one of China’s biggest closely-held technology companies, the largest of a coterie of Chinese smartphone makers that have grabbed global market share via affordable phones with premium specifications. It debuted its Mate 10 right around the time Apple took the lid off the iPhone X. The company was founded by former army engineer Ren Zhengfei and is considered to have strong government relations. “The authorities are investigating the matter, and we defer to their discretion as to what can be disclosed,” Huawei said.