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Inside LeEco's spectacular fall from grace
With additional reporting by Chris Ip and Richard Lai. Behind the doors of the five-star Bohao Radegast Hotel in Beijing's central business district on Monday, troubled Chinese tech conglomerate LeEco held an extraordinary shareholder's meeting to elect new directors. Outside, some two dozen protesters set up tables and held up signs asking to be paid what they were owed for services rendered. According to multiple reports, they had come from 20 cities all over China and were reportedly due about 33 million yuan (around $5 million) in all. Many of them demanded to see Jia Yueting, but the company's billionaire founder and public face was nowhere to be seen. LeEco's fall from grace has been spectacular. Once hailed as the "Netflix of China," the daring startup and its then-outspoken founder were bold enough to challenge Tesla and criticize Apple as "outdated." But in recent months, the company has faced a series of setbacks, and may be reaching its breaking point. Jia stepped down as chairman and CEO in May, while the company continues to fend off unhappy vendors who are protesting outside its Beijing headquarters. On the other side of the Pacific, LeEco has also massively scaled back its American operations, laying off hundreds of workers in the process, while facing two lawsuits from US TV maker Vizio. Faraday Future, a futuristic car company with close ties to LeEco, recently canceled its plans to build a $1 billion plant in Nevada as well. This is the tale of a company that grew too quickly. It shows how a ravenous appetite for growth without a solid financial foundation can cause a business to topple. Simply tracing LeEco's cash flow is a Herculean task, since its financial activity is obscured by a dizzying organizational structure comprising a publicly listed holdings company, privately owned organization and dozens of subsidiaries. It's incredible that LeEco was able to continue operations for as long as it did without getting into any real legal trouble. But since 2016, it has been slammed with several lawsuits. Manufacturing partners in Asia, including Zhejiang Haosheng Electronic Technology, Compal Electronics and Truly International Holdings have sued for outstanding debt. The most recent significant case was Vizio's $100 million claim for a failed $2 billion acquisition. From interviews Engadget conducted with unpaid vendors, former employees and investors, some of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity out of concern for their careers, it became apparent that LeEco's future may be in serious trouble.
LeEco shows off its LeSee Pro autonomous vehicle in San Francisco
While most of the news coming from LeEco's event in San Francisco was about new TVs and phones, the company's CEO, YT Jia made a point to show off his company's desire to become not just a consumer electronics brand but also an automaker. Unfortunately, the car couldn't make it onto the stage.
ICYMI: Targeting Zika with tech, flexi-cam and more
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-547051{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-547051, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-547051{width:570px;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-547051").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: Brazil is taking on the Zika virus by creating a smart billboard that attracts, then kills mosquitoes. Columbia University researchers built a camera prototype that takes pictures at a curve. And a Chinese company has stepped to Tesla with a self-driving, electric-only vehicle, though it isn't in production yet. Definitely share the latest in the Volkswagen emissions scandal with your friends who could use $5,000 (but might not get it); or just take in this performance from Prince as he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Music Hall of Fame. He was just so talented. As always, please share any great tech or science videos you find by using the #ICYMI hashtag on Twitter for @mskerryd.
China's LeEco teases its very own autonomous electric car
LeEco really wants the world to know it isn't just about TVs and smartphones. After the announcements of its investment in Faraday Future and Aston Martin earlier this year, today LeEco showed off its very first electric car that actually moves. The LeSEE vehicle was driven out of a container from one end of the stage, and later, CEO Jia Yueting did a live demo of its self-driving and self-parking capability using voice commands via a mobile app, albeit moving in low speed due to the limited space, as you can see in the video after the break. There's no mention of specs and the English subtitles suggest that this is more of a concept car at the moment, but it does appear to be a solid start.
