Gionee (金立) founder Liu Lirong (刘立荣) reportedly surfaces in Indonesia after eight years

Founder sighted at Indonesian furniture launch, reportedly selling homewares

It has been reported that Liu Lirong (刘立荣), the founder of smartphone maker Gionee (金立), has reappeared after eight years of absence — and not in the mobile market but at a furniture showroom opening in Indonesia. Multiple Indonesian social accounts posted photos and a July 2025 video of a Starlead Group / Prospace showroom opening in Alam Sutera’s Kino Tower showing a man in a blue floral shirt who reportedly resembles Liu. IT之家 (ITHome) cited those posts in reporting the sightings on April 15.

Starlead Group — founded in September 2023 and styled as a modern home-furnishings company — lists domestic Chinese partners including Haier (海尔), CATL (宁德时代) and Xiaomi (小米) on its site. It has been reported that the company’s founder is named He Xing (何星) and that Dongguan Jinzhong Electronics Co., Ltd. (东莞市金众电子股份有限公司) names He Xing as legal representative while Liu is listed as its largest shareholder with a roughly 30.66% stake, suggesting a business link between the two.

From smartphone boom to bankruptcy and unanswered debts

Gionee was once a poster child of China’s domestic handset boom. In 2008 its annual sales reportedly hit 10 million units, making it one of the country’s early mass-market success stories. But by 2018 the company collapsed after years of heavy marketing spend and weak R&D; Gionee formally declared bankruptcy on December 19, 2018. It has been reported that Liu incurred huge personal and corporate liabilities — various claims say he lost vast sums gambling in Saipan and left behind consolidated debts of 211亿 (about 21.1 billion yuan) owed to banks, distributors and suppliers; Liu reportedly admitted to gambling losses but disputed the larger figures.

Is this a quiet reinvention — or an attempt to stay out of the spotlight while business and legal questions linger? For Western readers, the episode highlights two larger themes in China’s tech ecosystem: rapid rise-and-fall dynamics of consumer device makers, and the cross-border pathways founders sometimes take as they reposition or relocate. Many details remain unverified and it has been reported that the identification of Liu in the Indonesian footage is tentative; further confirmation will be needed before drawing firm conclusions.