After the departure of Vice President Xu Xiaoming earlier this month, rumors of personnel changes at Suning Best Buy's Five Star Appliances surfaced on February 15. According to a report in an appliance industry media outlet, on the afternoon of February 14, Five Star Appliances announced significant personnel changes, with 70% of middle and upper management either being laid off or reassigned. The report cited comments from an anonymous mid-level manager at Five Star Appliances for confirmation, stating that the reason for the changes was a "50% year-on-year decline in performance from January to February 2012." This report was quickly reprinted by multiple websites.
According to a related report by an anonymous mid-level manager at Five Star Appliances, as noted by *Everyday Economic News*, this time more personnel were involved, not only including various regional branches but also many executives at headquarters. "Some managers have been reassigned, but most have been directly laid off. We are all shocked," said the source.
There were also rumors circulating that aside from Xu Xiaoming, several store managers and mid-level employees in retail human resources at Five Star Appliances had resigned before the Spring Festival. Rumors suggested that this was the largest personnel change at Best Buy since last year's closure of its branded stores.
However, Five Star Appliances subsequently denied the reports mentioned above, stating that "more than 10% of management received promotions, and no single manager was dismissed."
A reporter from *Everyday Economic News* then called Jing Xing, vice president of Five Star Appliances, who confirmed that there indeed were personnel adjustments at Five Star Appliances on the afternoon of February 14, but they were normal annual personnel adjustments, and "not a single person was dismissed by the company" during these adjustments.
At around 7 p.m. on the evening of February 15, Five Star Appliances sent a statement to the reporter indicating that this adjustment involved new appointments for a number of divisional and headquarter managers, where over 10% of management received promotions, and no single manager was dismissed.