Claure to also make $100 million investment in SHEIN
SINGAPORE, Jan. 31, 2023 — Today, SHEIN, a global e-retailer of fashion, beauty and lifestyle products, announced the appointment of Marcelo Claure as Chairman of SHEIN Latin America. In this new role, Claure will oversee the company’s Latin American strategy and stakeholder affairs in Latin America, working closely with SHEIN’s management team.
Claure will also lead the formation of an advisory board for SHEIN Latin America to help provide local expertise and serve as the chairman, as well as invest $100 million in SHEIN.
“We are thrilled to welcome Marcelo to SHEIN during an exciting time of growth for our company in Latin America,” said Sky Xu, CEO of SHEIN. “His excellent track record as an entrepreneur and operational executive, combined with his deep experience growing global brands and building trusted relationships, will be instrumental as we expand in this important market.”
Claure’s new role with SHEIN is aligned with his recent decision to focus a significant amount of his time and capital on Latin America, a part of the world where given his deep ties, he can continue to create a notable impact. As part of his strategy, Claure will make meaningful investments into a select group of companies and founders that are based in Latin America as well as global companies that are looking to grow and expand into Latin America.
“I am incredibly inspired by SHEIN’s vision of making fashion accessible to everyone through its unique on-demand business model,” said Claure. “As a person who is passionate about Latin America and will be focused intently on investing there moving forward, this is a unique opportunity for me to contribute to the region together with SHEIN. In Latin America, countries like Mexico and Brazil are at a stage of development where nearshoring, with the help of SHEIN’s supply chain technology, can enable local supply chains to flourish. I am honored to join Sky and his executive team to help drive economic opportunities and job growth in Latin America.”
Claure is a global entrepreneur and the founder & CEO of Claure Group, a multi-billion-dollar global investment firm focused on multiple high growth sectors in Latin America including tech, telecom, media, real estate and sports. He started his first business, Brightstar, in 1997, growing it to become the world’s largest global wireless distribution and services company and the largest Hispanic business in U.S. history with revenues exceeding $10 billion.
In 2014, Claure sold Brightstar to SoftBank and became the CEO of Sprint, where he led its turnaround and delivered the best financial results in the company’s 120-year history, and later led the $195 billion merger between Sprint and T-Mobile, which closed in 2020 and is now the world’s most valuable telecommunications company with a market cap of nearly $200 billion. Following the merger, Claure was promoted to CEO of SoftBank Group International, where he had direct oversight of over 40 companies in SoftBank’s portfolio, including ARM, SB Energy and WeWork. He also launched the $8 billion SoftBank Latin America fund in 2019, the largest VC fund in the region.
Claure received a B.S. in Economics and Finance and an honorary Doctorate of Commercial Science from Bentley University, and an honorary Doctorate of Law from Babson College. He is an Executive Fellow at Harvard Business School and a member of the 2016 Class of Henry Crown Fellows at the Aspen Institute.