On September 16, 2022, VNET Group (VNET.US), which is a leading innovation-oriented enterprise in China's new digital infrastructure industry and the first Chinese IDC company listed on the US stock markets, officially announced that Mr. Samuel Shen will resign from his positions as the Rotating CEO of VNET Group and the Executive Chairman of NEOLINK from September 16, 2022 due to his personal career planning. Mr. Jeff Dong, the President of VNET Group and CEO of VNET Capital, will become the new Rotating CEO of VNET Group. In the meanwhile, Mr. Samuel Shen will continue to serve the company in his new role as a senior advisor, and help the company deepen its strategies and cultivate senior management.

Over the past two years, Mr. Samuel Shen has led VNET Group to accelerate the development of IDC retail business, taken retail of colocation cabinets as the core, and built several product lines such as network products, hybrid cloud, bare metal and O&M management, in order to meet customers’ diversified needs for digital transformation in the whole lifecycle. In April 2021, with the vigorous support of Mr. Samuel Shen, VNET Group officially established its new infrastructure technology subsidiary - NEOLINK, to accelerate the company's transformation from a resource-based enterprise to a “resource- and technology-based” innovation-oriented enterprise. In July 2021, Mr. Samuel Shen led the investment team to acquire Tenxcloud successfully, which is a leading service provider in the field of cloud native applications, and helped the company achieve a groundbreaking layout in the cloud computing field. In addition to promoting business development, Mr. Samuel Shen also attached great importance to improving the company's brand value. VNET Group successfully held the 2021 China IDC Discovery Summit for two consecutive years, which further strengthened the company’s cohesion and influence in the industry, and injected vitality to the 26-year-old brand.

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During the tenure of Mr. Samuel Shen, VNET Group maintained steady growth in business operation and financial performance. The total number of cabinets owned by VNET Group increased rapidly from 44,000 to 80,000, and the cabinet resources achieved leapfrog development. In addition, thanks to the close cooperation and active support of Mr. Samuel Shen and Mr. Tim Chen (CFO of VNET Group), VNET Group successfully got strategic investments from many top investment institutions in the world such as Government of Singapore Investment Corp (GIC), Blackstone, Goldman Sachs and Fidelity in the past two years, and witnessed the capital increase of more than RMB 10 billion in the heavy asset sector, demonstrating strong development resilience.

Josh Chen, Founder of VNET Group, said, “I would like to thank Samuel for his contributions and dedication to our success throughout his tenure. His leadership has been instrumental in driving value and growth for?VNET. We look forward to his ongoing guidance in his new role as our senior advisor, and we sincerely wish him a brighter future.”

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“I would like to thank VNET Group for providing me with great platforms and opportunities in the past years, and I will always cherish the beautiful memory of working with you in the past two years. As a veteran in the IDC industry, Josh Chen (Founder of VNET Group) in particular has inspired every employee of the company including me with his strong passion and firm belief. Due to my personal career development plan, it's a pity that I can't continue to keep you company along the journey. But I believe that VNET Group will get better and better, and our new CEO Jeff Dong will also lead the company to enter a new stage of development,” said by Samuel Shen with great attachment.

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In the meanwhile, VNET Group announced that Mr. Jeff Dong (President of VNET Group) is promoted to the Rotating CEO of VNET Group. Mr. Jeff Dong received his PhD in Finance from Manchester Business School, and acquired rich investment experience over 15 years of long and illustrious professional career. In the past, he was mainly in charge of the domestic and overseas investment business of real asset equity such as TMT, new energy and new infrastructure. Mr. Jeff Dong was employed by the alternative asset management platforms of BCG, CCB Investment, China Investment Corporation and China Taiping Insurance Group, where he was mainly responsible for constructing alternative asset portfolios and strategy management, with total assets under management of more than 10 billion dollars. Mr. Jeff Dong, as VNET Group's Rotating CEO, will continue to firmly implement the Group's strategy, and make new exploration and breakthroughs in asset management business in infrastructure, especially in the field of new digital infrastructure.

“I'm very glad that Mr. Jeff Dong is promoted to the Rotating CEO of VNET Group. We are confident that Jeff's extensive industry insights and deep investment expertise will continue to drive our ‘IDC wholesale plus new retail’ dual-core growth strategy, and fuel our ongoing commitment to achieving sustainable growth and creating long-term shareholder value”, said Josh Chen.

As a time-honored carrier-neutral data center service provider in China, VNET Group has continuously led the industry development and created many firsts since its establishment 26 years ago. In 2020, VNET Group took the lead in implementing the management rotation mechanism in the IDC industry, with the aim of turning individual capabilities into organizational capabilities through systematic arrangements, giving full play to the overall effectiveness of the company and stimulating the vitality of all employees. Two years ago, Mr. Samuel Shen began to serve as the Rotating CEO of VNET Group, and now he successfully passes the reins. This reflects the organizational advantages of VNET Group's management rotation mechanism in maintaining organizational vitality. In the future, VNET Group will make continuous innovation in the company's management system and governance system, further enhance the competitiveness of all employees, and stimulate the innovative vitality of the organization.