China's LeEco founder steps down amidst cash crunch

The founder of LeEco, a Chinese Netflix-to-Tesla-like conglomerate, has stepped down as the CEO of the group’s main listed unit, as the company begins to streamline and cut debt after rapid expansion led to a cash crunch.

Jia Yueting, who will remain as chairman and CEO of LeEco, envisions the group maintaining its separate unlisted automotive unit but rolling all other areas of business into Leshi Internet Information & Technology Corp Beijing, according to a transcript of his remarks to journalists on Sunday.

The firm has also trimmed loans by nearly half from a peak of 10 billion yuan ($1.45 billion), Jia said.

Shenzhen-listed Leshi said in a stock exchange filing that Liang Jun, a long-time Lenovo Group Ltd executive who joined Leshi in 2012, will replace Jia as chief executive officer. Leshi’s finance chief Yang Linjie, who resigned for personal reasons, will also be replaced by Zhang Wei.

The restructuring comes several months after the group received a much-needed $2.2 billion investment from property developer Sunac China Holdings Ltd.

Sunac said the management change is not an attempt to take more control of Leshi, considered one of LeEco’s healthiest assets. But it marks a push to bolster the streaming business’ operations.

“There is no such thing as a fight for control,” said Liu Shuqing, a Sunac-appointed director on the board of Leshi, according to the transcript of Leshi’s Sunday briefing.

In a letter to all LeEco staff seen by Reuters, Jia called the two appointments as Leshi’s “most important milestone since its IPO in 2010”, and said they were aimed at improving the listed company’s performance.

Reuters