Enough! LeEco’s white knight admits defeat, refuses any more funding for troubled group
Investors should brace themselves for further losses as Leshi will resume trading on Thursday with mutual fund managers already marking down the stock price by 74 per cent.
Sun Hongbin, the white knight who came to the rescue of troubled entrepreneur Jia Yueting – also known as ‘China’s Steve Jobs’ – with a 15 billion yuan (US$2.3 billion) investment in Leshi, has refused to make further financial commitments.
“People should admit defeat because sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t,” Sun, the Chinese property tycoon behind Sunac China Holdings, told retail investors of Leshi Internet Information & Technology on Tuesday morning via an online conference link through the Shenzhen bourse.
Sun said that while he was not willing to increase his stake in Leshi, he would try his best to push for a “solution to the capital problem and normalise operations”.
Leshi is the Shenzhen-listed arm of LeEco Group – the internet-based conglomerate founded by Jia, a video-streaming and sports broadcaster that expanded into making smartphones and electric cars.
Sun poured 15 billion yuan to buy an 8.56 per cent stake in Leshi and other LeEco subsidiaries in January and provided it with another 1.29 billion yuan in loans in November.
