Inside Meitu - The Chinese Selfie App's Chaotic Global Expansion - Business Insider

1/8/2021 Inside Meitu: The Chinese selfie app's chaotic global expansion - Business Insider
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An exec at a $4.4 billion tech company red a woman then put

her on blast in a team-wide memo: Inside the nightmarish culture
of a fast-growing Chinese beauty app
Rob Price Jul 15, 2018, 6:30 AM
A photo of Donald Trump edited with Chinese selfie company Meitu's app — and promotional material for a
controversial filter the company once built. Original photo of Donald Trump - Gage Skidmore/ Flickr (CC) /
Promotional photo - Meitu
Meitu is a hot Chinese sel e app maker with hundreds of millions of users —
but some believe its global expansion has been plagued by dysfunction.
H O M E PA G E
Business Insider spoke to more than a dozen former employees, and from
https://www.businessinsider.com/inside-meitu-chinese-selfie-app-chaotic-global-expansion-2018-5 1/17
some heard allegations of sexism, wild stories of shamings and scathing

criticisms in front of other employees, and tales of a brutal workplace
culture.
Meitu's struggles highlight the challenges in running a global company, and

show there's far more to running a tech business than just having a
successful app.
In a statement, the company said that its "cultural values encompass

integrity, responsibility, ambition and empathy."
"Meitu is a shitshow," one former employee said. "I'm embarrassed that

Meitu is now on my resumé."
In November 2017, about an hour after employees on Meitu's international team read a
cheery farewell message from one of their colleagues in a company chatroom, they
received an eye-popping follow-up note from the company's head of global operations.
The manager, Fox Lui, wanted everyone to know that the employee was leaving
because he had red her, and he blasted her for poor execution, not embracing the
company's "user- rst" values and various other purported faults.
What's more, he insisted in the chatroom, he was not a "fucking monster" for ring her.
"Maybe my way of handling this is not the best, but I hope you all understand that in
order for us to succeed we have to embrace the Company's value," he wrote. "This is
even
HOmore important
M E PA GE than ability and capability."
For Meitu's shell-shocked US employees, this bizarre episode was just another day in
1/8/2021
p y , p j
Inside Meitu: The Chinese selfie app's chaotic global expansion - Business Insider
y
the o ce at what might be one of the most dysfunctional workplaces in Silicon Valley.
Famous over-the-top perks like on-campus massages, ice cream shops, and volleyball
courts have earned the American tech industry the reputation for being a worker's
paradise —a place where hard work and progressive management combine to form a
happy lifestyle. But in the case of Meitu, a Chinese company which has built a $4.4
billion empire by churning out a series of popular sel e-editing apps, the glitzy perks
of a Silicon Valley dream job covered up a much harsher reality.
Business Insider spoke to more than a dozen former Meitu employees involved in the
company's overseas expansion. Their tales paint a picture of an almost dystopian
version of a Silicon Valley tech gig, including claims of seemingly arbitrary rings,
public shamings, and even some behavior some may consider overtly sexist or racist.
The Chinese company's lofty ambitions to take on global internet superpowers like
Facebook, Snapchat and Twitter sparked a frenetic and chaotic expansion into the US
and the rest of the world. But the expansion exposed deep cultural rifts that wreaked
havoc in the workplace and in Meitu's products, and serve as a reminder that there's
more to operating a global business than having a popular app.
One former employee estimated that more than 80% of employees on the global
expansion team were red or quit in a little over a year. Many left after just two or three
months. "Every day felt like it was your last day there," one person recalled. (Sources
requested anonymity in order to discuss their experiences at the company.)
In a lengthy statement provided by Lui on behalf of Meitu, the company said it would
not comment on "some personal views from your sources, as it may not re ect the full
picture
H O MofEour
PA Gcompany’s
E culture and values," and noted that it was bound by
con dentiality agreements with employees and partners.
With respect to Lui's 2017 comments about the departing employee, the statement
reads: "On certain occasions, Fox informed the team of the reasons why the company
had to let go of some people and encouraged the team to be more outspoken with the
aim of creating a more transparent working environment. In Fox’s opinion, this is in
line with the company’s cultural values."
But those company values did not translate well in overseas o ces like those in the US.
"Meitu is a shitshow," one former employee said bluntly. "I'm embarrassed that Meitu
is now on my resume … I regret that I spent a year there."
Bringing the craze to America
Meitu CFO Gary Ngan, Founder and Chairman Cai Wensheng, and founder and CEO Wu Xinhong.
REUTERS/Bobby Yip
H O M E PA G E
Meitu’s US adventure began in classic startup-style, with sta working out of an
apartment — usually around the dinner table — in Los Angeles’s Venice neighborhood
in 2015. Other US o ces would later open in Palo Alto and Santa Clara, in the heart of
Silicon Valley, eshing out a constellation of other international teams in places like
London, Mexico, Sao Paulo, and Mumbai.
The goal was to get a feel for local tastes and customs, and then replicate the
phenomenal success that Meitu's "sel e" apps have experienced in China, according to
the sources who worked in Meitu's US and other overseas o ces that Business Insider
spoke to.
Meitu's suite of smartphone apps, which include makeup-simulating apps such as

MakeupPlus and BeautyCam, let users share and modify photos and videos. By some
estimates, as many as half of the sel es shared on social media in China have been
edited with Meitu. The company even sells its own-brand of smartphones that come
with its software baked in.
The Meitu and BeautyCam apps "have been in the top ve in China market for at least
the past ve years," said Alex Ng, an analyst at CMB International. "They have a very ...
dominant position in this market. A very solid user base focusing on the female user."
Meitu's apps have gotten some buzz in the US too, with celebrity users like comedian
Jimmy Fallon.
jimmy fallon
@jimmyfallon
I have to admit, I've had a little work done.
H O M E PA G E
11 41 AM · Jan 19, 2017

17.2K 2.4K people are Tweeting about this
Meitu went public at the start of 2017 in what was Hong Kong's biggest tech IPO in a
decade, closing the day with a $4.8 billion valuation. It still has yet to turn a pro t.
Meitu's overseas o ces, such as the US outposts, were primarily focused on marketing,
data analytics, localization, and local partnerships, with the core app development
team at its headquarters in Xiamen, China.
Many former Meitu employees spoke positively about the perks of the job. The pay was
good, often well above market rates, and employees enjoyed a signi cant amount of
freedom. Some spoke positively about the lessons they learned and the friends they
made while working there.
"People went into Meitu, myself included, with some really big, big expectations," one
source who spoke favorably of their time at the company said. "We would be able to ...
a ect change, we would be able to shape and potentially succeed at growing a Chinese
company here in the US .”
H O M E PA G E
Meitu's stock, after an early spike, has since dropped back to around its IPO price. Yahoo Finance
"Everyone dreaded going to work"
But e orts to parlay its success into the US have not gone smoothly, marked by ever-
shifting strategies, directives and a series of management changes.
Focus would switch from app to app, and goals and targets would change without
notice; a partnership might be discussed, then rejected; sta ers would be demoted and
teams abruptly rearranged.
Employees in the US o ces were often young and inexperienced. The rst person to
lead Meitu's American operations was a recent college graduate whose previous job
was working as an intern at headphone company Beats by Dr. Dre, according to his
LinkedIn pro le.
Overseas employees felt expected to stay on top of hundreds of messages on

WeChat, the popular Chinese mobile chat app, and work long hours to communicate
with China. Sources said that if you weren't seen as active on the app, you weren't
H O M E PA G E
viewed as doing your job well. "I still have nightmares about WeChat," one said.
REUTERS/Jason Lee
WeChat also served as a virtual tribunal where some employees felt publicly judged by
their peers throughout the organization. Employees perceived to have done a poor job
on a task would be mercilessly ogged in WeChat by their managers, with threats of
rings thrown in for good measure, sources said.
At the beginning of 2016, Frank Fu, a US-based technology executive who previously
worked at Chinese software rm Kingsoft, came on board as the company's new
director of global operations. The culture was "hostile," a source recalled of the Fu
regime. "Everyone dreaded going to work." Another described management as
"authoritative."
Fu would hold intensive "war room" meetings, they said, going round the team and
grilling
H O Memployees
E PA G E on what they were working on, laying into them if their response
was perceived as inadequate. People sometimes broke down in tears.
Some former employees, however, said that Fu was under unrealistic expectations
from China: "He was under immense pressure to move mountains," one said,
describing him as a "really savvy businessman."
In August 2017, Fu was replaced as the head of the global team by Fox Lui, a Meitu
director. Some viewed Fox Lui more positively, describing him as "charming," though
others were still critical. Lui enacted a rule whereby employees who spoke out against
their colleagues would be red, one person noted.
If employees complained, they said, Lui would question whether they were being
su ciently "loyal" to Meitu. Problems under Fu's leadership, including employee
in ghting and shifting priorities, continued under his successor, and the size of the
overseas team around the world shrank to less than half its size at its peak of more than
100 employees.
In one notable incident, Meitu laid o a group of employees without notice days before
Christmas of 2017, sources said. Lui declined to provide speci c numbers on the
overseas team, citing Hong Kong listing rules, but said that the sta turnover in on the
US team was not signi cantly higher than the average of Meitu.
"In fast-growing tech companies like Meitu, it is not uncommon to see new people
joining our team, while we had to let go of some employees as their skill-sets and
expertise no longer meet with the growing needs of Meitu," the company said in its
statement.
H O M E PA G E
Meitu's spacious LA office can fit dozens of employees — but it's almost completely empty. This photo was taken
by a source in 2017 and provided to Business Insider. Meitu's LA Office, 2017
'Everyone has his or her own perspective'
Some former employees said they witnessed sexist behaviour at Meitu.
One ex-employee said she overheard employees discussing her weight and height in
Chinese, not realising that she spoke the language. Another claimed to have heard a
Meitu executive commenting on the size of a female employee’s breasts to that
employee. A third acknowledged that he himself had been accused of sexism while at
the company, but believed the allegation was baseless and came about as a result of
employees' other grievances.
And multiple sources said Meitu had a pattern of hiring attractive young women.
Two sources said they felt there were di erent expectations for men and women’s
behaviour, with women expected to be "docile" while men "had freedom to act
aggressively." Others disputed that men and women were treated di erently, though
they were still critical of the company. "I don’t think [Frank Fu] treated women or men
particularly well," one said.
H O M E PA G E
Business Insider reached out to Frank Fu with an initial message outlining some of the
concerns of former employees, including sexism allegations. In an early back-and-

forth of messages, he acknowledged startup life could be "chaotic." "You would
certainly hear negative comments, and there are also a lot positive things to write
about," he said. "The question is what is the truth. After all, we must respect people's
opinion. Everyone has his or her own perspective."
In subsequent messages, he suggested that former employees might fabricate stories,

and declined to take part in an interview, referring Business Insider to Meitu's PR
team. He was then provided with a detailed list of questions, including speci c
allegations, to which he again responded by referring Business Insider to the company
PR team.
Lui and Meitu said in a lengthy statement in response that the company's "cultural
values encompass integrity, responsibility, ambition and empathy." The company said
that "each job seeker enjoys equal opportunity to compete with his or her peers."
After being presented with the allegations outlined above, Meitu expressed an interest
in following up. They asked for more information so it could investigate "to ensure that
policies are in place and necessary corrections are taken if any such inappropriate
conduct did in fact occur." (Business Insider could not share further details without
risking revealing sources' identies.)
Problematic sel e lters
The cultural disconnect that strained management also became product and public
relations problems.
In 2017, Meitu tested a new lter for one of its apps that transformed the user into a
stereotypical native American, with a painted face and a headdress with a feather. One
source described it as "racist," and said it was paired with stereotypical music from
H O M E PA G E
India (the Asian nation, not native American culture).
After concerns were raised internally, Meitu agreed not to launch it in the US — but it
still rolled out in other markets around the world, the source said. "There were a lot of
lters that would be considered cultural appropriation and 'inappropriate' in the
States," said another.
Multiple former employees say the global team battled with the Chinese team for years
over cultural issues relating to its apps.
—Meg 💦 (@churlishmeg) January 18, 2017
The Chinese team was responsible for core app development, and the global team
found it di cult to make them make any signi cant changes to localize the apps,
multiple sources said — even running focus groups to try and gather data to get their
point across. The attitude seemed to be that Meitu was a huge success in China, so it
should be able to replicate that success abroad.
There was little recognition of the radically di erent standards of female beauty
around the world, some sources said: The ethereal, slim-faced, pointed-chin look that
played well in China didn't necessarily appeal in Brazil or Ireland. Similarly, one
source said, it was di cult to get the Chinese team to sign o on marketing materials
or in uencer partnerships with people of colour, or plus-size models.
Meitu's Lui told Business Insider that the company was constantly at work improving
its product development "feedback loop," and that it works with "in uencers" of
various age, gender and religions in countries around the world.
The issue exploded in early 2017, when Meitu went viral in the US and was
subsequently accused of being racist, lightening the skintones of people of color. Ex-
employees said they didn't believe Meitu was being deliberately racist; the company
H O M E PA G E
just hadn't listened to the concerns that Western employees had raised before the crisis
erupted.
One potential PR disaster that was averted involved a promotion for a Chinese action
movie that featured a face lter to make users look beaten-up, like the lm's female
character.
The lter performed well in China, and in 2017, two sources told Business Insider that
Frank Fu proposed launching it in Western markets. The problem was that without the
context of the Chinese lm, the lter arguably would have just made the app's
predominantly female users look like victims of domestic violence.
The global team managed to convince management to reconsider, the two former
employees said. One added: "We all unanimously shut this down."
H O M E PA G E
Promotional imagery showing the controversial Meitu filter. Meitu
The next big thing
Whether Meitu manages to become a cultural phenomenon in the US to the same

degree it has in China remains to be seen.
Throughout 2017, Meitu's total monthly active users shrunk slightly — from 450
million monthly active users at the end of 2016 to 415 million a year later, according to
its annual report. But its overseas monthly users grew just under 30%, from 86 million
to a little under 112 million — suggesting that all the its internal turmoil hasn't
necessarily halted its growth.
Some former employees view Meitu's stumbles as illustrative of the di culties in

transplanting a business across cultural borders.
One source described Fu as using "a very traditional Chinese business approach … a
rather harsh competitive siloing type of business strategy. You're supposed to try and
pull resources from other teams, maybe ally with someone, throw them under the bus
the next day. It's a highly competitive team culture."
It's not that there's anything wrong with that approach, per se, they said — it just
doesn't translate well into the Western business world.
Meanwhile, Meitu investor and company chairman Cai Wensheng is eyeing up another
potential venture: Bitcoin. Throughout 2017, the angel investor bought up the digital
currency, and now says he holds 10,000 bitcoin — worth more than $95 million at
current prices.
H O M E PA G E
"Investing in blockchain is like the way people invested in internet in 2000," he has
been quoted as saying. "Many startups come up but along the way some fall. But if you
been quoted as saying. Many
1/8/2021
startups come up but along the way some fall. But if you
Inside Meitu: The Chinese selfie app's chaotic global expansion - Business Insider
invest in the right startup there will be rewards at the end."
Do you work at Meitu? Got a tip? Contact this reporter via email at
rprice@businessinsider.com, by Signal or WhatsApp at +1 (650) 636-6268, WeChat at
robaeprice, or Twitter DM at @robaeprice. You can also contact Business Insider
securely via SecureDrop.
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1/8/2021 Inside Meitu: The Chinese selﬁe app's chaotic global expansion - Business Insider

DOW S&P 500 NASDAQ 100

An exec at a $4.4 billion tech company red a woman then put

Rob Price Jul 15, 2018, 6:30 AM

some heard allegations of sexism, wild stories of shamings and scathing

Meitu's struggles highlight the challenges in running a global company, and

In a statement, the company said that its "cultural values encompass

"Meitu is a shitshow," one former employee said. "I'm embarrassed that

Bringing the craze to America

Meitu's suite of smartphone apps, which include makeup-simulating apps such as

11 41 AM · Jan 19, 2017

"Everyone dreaded going to work"

Overseas employees felt expected to stay on top of hundreds of messages on

'Everyone has his or her own perspective'

Some former employees said they witnessed sexist behaviour at Meitu.

concerns of former employees, including sexism allegations. In an early back-and-

In subsequent messages, he suggested that former employees might fabricate stories,

Problematic sel e lters

—Meg 💦 (@churlishmeg) January 18, 2017

The next big thing

Whether Meitu manages to become a cultural phenomenon in the US to the same

Some former employees view Meitu's stumbles as illustrative of the di culties in

invest in the right startup there will be rewards at the end."

Was this article valuable for you?

SEE ALSO: Confessions of Facebook's parking valets, who see

More: Meitu work culture inline

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