nasdaqtraded shares in huazhu group one of the largest chinabased hotel chains fell by more than 3 this morning after company said its billionaire ceo and founder ji qi was stepping down from the post “for personal reasons” effective oct 1 see statement here ji 54 was worth 35 billion on the forbes realtime billionaires list earlier today hui jin currently president will succeed ji as ceo ji will stay on as chairman huazhu operates more than 7000 hotels in 17 countries and has a market capitalization of approximately 30 billion ji’s exit comes as china’s transportation industry consumer sentiment and economic growth are being hurt by covid19 outbreaks in the country passenger travel last month plunged by 51 from a year earlier according to a government report see post here ji’s exit as ceo also comes against a background of highprofile departures and leadership changes at top tech chinese companies including pinduoduo and bytedance amid a “common prosperity” campaign that is seen as aimed at boosting government control over large private sector companies education and other areas ji is also a founder of tripcom china’s largest online travel site china is home to the world’s secondlargest number of billionaires after the united states