Amidst cash crunch and massive job cuts at LeEco, its founder Jia Yueting has decided to step down from being the CEO of its video division. Jia however would continue as the chairman of the Leshi while handing over the reins to Liang Jun, a longtime Lenovo executive who has been with LeEco for over five years now.
Jia Yueting’s move has reportedly been triggered after an investor called for a stronger corporate governance at LeEco. Apart from that Leshi would also be losing its chief financial officer Yang Lijie, who apparently is resigning due to personal reasons. Zhang Wei, the company’s current China CFO would be replacing Yang soon.
Reports coming from China further suggest that LeEco may soon go through a massive corporate overhaul which may be preceded by yet another round of layoffs. The Chinese Business Journal reported earlier this week that LeEco sports focused subsidiary LeSports could cut down 70 percent of its work strength. That aside, the struggling US division too may let go of 30 percent of its staff.
The struggling Chinese electronics has been undergoing massive changes ever since Jia revealed the company’s cash-strapped situation in November last year. Thereafter, LeEco has not only cut down on its ambitious expansion plans but has also laid off a large part of its work force besides selling off a number of assets including the sprawling 49-acre San Jose campus. The company’s US and Indian operations were especially hit with both divisions undergoing major structural overhaul. Earlier this year two of LeEco India’s top executives, Debashish Ghosh CEO internet applications and Atul Jain CEO for smart electronics business called it quits in face of these lay off.
Leshi Internet Information Technology Corporation popularly known as LeEco was initially founded in China a decade ago as a Netflix-like video streaming platform. Thereafter in the last few years, it diversified its business and has expanded into new products and services. These include consumer electronics, electric cars, movie studios, sports and clod services.
Source:Reuters
Photo Credits:LeEco