Mondelez International Sees 4.18% Stock Surge Amid Major Leadership Changes in China

Mondelez International (MDLZ) saw significant stock activity, with a 4.18% increase and a three-day consecutive rise, marking a 6.42% gain over this period. During the trading day, MDLZ reached a high not seen since February 2024.
Mondelez China has recently appointed a new chief financial officer for Greater China — Fan Xiaohang, effective September 4. Fan replaces Yang Yiting, who stepped down over a year ago to spend more time with his family abroad. Prior to joining Mondelez, Fan held several key roles at Nike and Procter & Gamble over a nine-year tenure at Nike.
Confirmed by Mondelez China, Nestle's former Chief Marketing Officer for Greater China, Qu Xiangming, has officially joined Mondelez China as the Vice President of Marketing and Development. Additionally, Liu Xiaojun, former head of revenue growth management at Mondelez China, will take on the interim role of e-commerce lead, reporting to Qu. This comes after the company's internal review led to the departure of former VP of Marketing and Development Zhu Yijing and former e-commerce lead Xiu Zherong.
Qu Xiangming brings more than 26 years of commercial leadership experience from his tenure at Procter & Gamble, Unilever, Coca-Cola, and Midea Group. In 2020, he became the CMO for Nestle's Greater China region, accumulating extensive insight and expertise in brand management, marketing strategy, and digital transformation.
Speaking on Qu’s appointment, a Mondelez China representative noted, “Qu’s deep understanding of brand and consumer insights and his extensive managerial experience have left a strong impression. His past successes in driving business growth make us confident in his collaboration with the Greater China management team to further business development and talent growth.”
Liu Xiaojun, an eight-year veteran at Mondelez China, previously focused on revenue growth management, insights, and analytics. A Mondelez representative explained, “Liu’s extensive experience in revenue growth management and analytics demonstrates our commitment to offering diverse career development opportunities for internal talent.”
Mondelez China’s well-known snack brands include Oreo, Chips Ahoy, Tuc, Prince, Taiping, Ritz, Halls, Trident, Milka, and Tang.
The Chinese market has been a strong performer for Mondelez, recording significant growth. According to the latest Q2 2024 earnings call, Mondelez’s China market experienced high single-digit growth, driven by core product brand reinforcement and expanded distribution channels. The company has also seen robust growth in online and social commerce sales. In contrast, Mondelez International’s global net revenue and profit faced declines, with Q2 net revenue at $8.343 billion, down 1.9%, and net profit at $601 million, down 36.3%.
China remains a crucial market for Mondelez International, which continues to increase investment and expand its distribution network in the region. The recent strategic appointments are expected to influence the company's distribution network expansion and e-commerce strategies in China significantly.
The industry will closely watch how Qu Xiangming and Liu Xiaojun lead their teams to navigate and leverage these opportunities.