In China, things work like this: when you are in financial troubles and you are unable to pay your debts, you get banned from even using public transport. That is what just happened to Jia Yueting, the former CEO of LeEco. Jia Yueting has just been subjected to significant restrictions in his home country: he has been banned from air travel and he has also been restricted from taking long-distance public transport. These restrictions from luxury air and rail travel will last for one year. They come as Jia Yueting has been added to Credit China’s list of individuals restricted from public transport, which includes 169 individuals.

This list contains the names of people who haven’t paid taxes, smoked on trains despite being forbidden, or disrupted flights. Even his sister Jia Yuefang has been added to the list for the same issues.

LeEco was a great smartphone manufacturer, but its economic conditions started getting bad from 2016. The company has then tried to expand outside of China (in the U.S.), but it was a bad decision and it only made the situation worse than it was. Due to financial troubles, Jia Yueting had to resign from his CEO position in order to become LeEco’s chairman in July 2017, but Beijing court froze its assets in August and he had to leave China.

He then moved to the U.S. to focus on his electric car manufacturer, Faraday Future. A few months ago Jia Yueting’s name was added to a government blacklist for credit defaulters, then he was asked to go back to his home country and pay the company’s debts. Now, the company risks losing its TV division if Jia Yueting does not pay his debts. The last LeEco’s phone was LeEco Pro 3 AI and it was announced in April 2017.

(via)

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LeEco founder Jia Yueting has been ordered by the Chinese Securities Regulatory Commission to return to China before December 31. This is one of the many calls made by the regulator to the Chinese billionaire to come back home. He is said to be in the United States taking care of his electric car venture, Faraday Future, which is another company struggling with operations. 

Earlier this year, Jia resigned from all of his positions in Leshi Internet Information & Technology Corp. But at the time of his resignation, he left LeEco in a very bad position mounted by debts. He is now being called by the regulator to fulfill on his promise made back in 2015 to provide interest-free loans to Leshi with the proceeds from the sale of his shares in the company. It is worth mentioning that he said in a letter back in November that he won’t be able to fulfil his promise of financial support to a LeEco subsidiary.

The regulator ordered Jia in an official statement yesterday, asking him to immediately return ‘home’ (China) and handle the situation. The statement further adds that ‘the debt has to be paid back’ and it has caused ‘extremely adverse social impact’.

The situation doesn’t look good for Jia right now. With mounting debts and Faraday Future struggling, it remains to be seen whether he will pay heed to the call from the Chinese regulator this time.

(Source, Via)

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We all know ‘LeEco’ which is aggressively expanding into so many ventures, offering amazing products at affordable pricing. But it’s not easy expanding ever so quickly especially when you are operating not just in your domestic market, but entering large markets such as the US. Now, it has come to light that all things are not going so well for the company.

According to an internal letter sent by LeEco CEO Jia Yueting, obtained by Bloomberg, the company is reportedly facing cash crunch. The CEO reportedly sent the letter on Sunday explaining about the company’s difficulty is sustaining the fast growth powered by its recent ventures.

While the parent company Leshi Internet Information & Technology Corp. is listed on the stock exchange, other ventures such as its auto department as well as smartphone department are unlisted.

Cash crunch is never a good sign for a venture and it wasn’t surprising to see LeEco’s shares tumble today at the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. But Jia says that the management will work on corrective measures such as slowing down the existing aggressive expansion. He even said that he will reduce his yearly income to just 1 Yuan (15 cents). Other possible measures to be taken by the company mentioned in the letter include  focusing on existing business, decreasing subsidies to customers, and implementing other cost-cutting programs.

READ MORE: LeEco LeSEE Pro Electric Car Launched in the US (Pictures)

This letter was widely shared on Weibo today and soon it educed a response from Xiaomi’s CEO (or so it seemed at that time), as a screenshot of a Wechat message with Lei Jun commenting about the debts of LeEco emerged online. This further led to a response from LeEco criticing Xiaomi and Lei Jun for spreading rumors. For this, Xiaomi’s official spokesperson replied asking LeEco to focus on its debts rather than distracting public from it.

Now, some think that this screenshot is fake and is not from Lei Jun, but the Xiaomi CEO is yet to comment on this matter. Neverthless, this internal letter revealed today from LeEco’s CEO will surely damage the reputation of the company and it’s venture to some extent.

Let’s wait for more details on this matter.

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