Bottom line: LeEco’s sell-down of its Coolpad stake is a prelude to disposal of the remainder, and could presage a sale of Coolpad to another smartphone maker later this year.
LeEco sells down Coolpad stake
The unraveling of former online video superstar LeEco(Shenzhen: 300104) continues as we head into the new week, with word the company has sold off a significant chunk of its stake in struggling smartphone maker Coolpad (HKEx: 2369) for a fraction of what it paid. This particular news is significant for a number of reasons, only one of which involves the latest attempt to salvage LeEco. It also has large implications for the future survival of Coolpad, and China’s broader smartphone industry. Some have predicted 2018 will be the year this overcrowded industry finally sees a weed-out that is long overdue.
I and many others have predicted this particular sale for a while, so the actual news doesn’t come as a huge surprise. LeEco purchased about 30 percent of Coolpad in two tranches for a combined $500 million in 2015 and 2016, when it was at the height of its meteoric rise. Coolpad had a relatively sound name at that time, though it was already feeling the effects of intense competition in China’s smartphone space. Fast forward to the present, when the future of both companies is in serious doubt, as each loses big money and struggles under major debt piles. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: LeEco is likely to sell its stake in Coolpad in the next six months, and new investor Centralcon could emerge as the buyer with a goal of trying to turn the company around.
Coolpad finds new suitor
A potential white knight has stepped forward to provide some funds for struggling smartphone maker Coolpad (HKEx: 2369), in a fresh sign that controlling stakeholder LeEco(Shenzhen: 300104) may be preparing to dump the company as part of its protracted reorganization. The amount of the fund-raising is relatively small at HK$582 million ($75 million), though it could be enough to help Coolpad figure out what it wants to do next.
The more interesting question is whether this signals that LeEco is planning to dump Coolpad and the smartphone business in general, which I’ve been predicting for a while since the ousting of LeEco founder Jia Yueting from the company in July. Smartphones was one of the many businesses that Jia entered at the height of his expansion euphoria, and seems like a likely candidate to be jettisoned as the company’s new managers try to right this foundering ship. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: LeEco is likely to spin off its new energy car unit by the end of the year following the departure of founder Jia Yueting from the listed company, while it could also close its smartphone division.
LeEco set to spin off car unit?
In what looks like a major turning point for the foundering LeEco(Shenzhen: 300104), the company’s charismatic but embattled founder has relinquished his role as chairman at the publicly listed firm. This particular news came out just as people were leaving home for work last night, so it’s still not completely clear on what exactly has happened.
But it appears that one of the companies that had agreed to provide a major cash infusion, a real estate developer named Sunac (HKEx: 1918) was refusing to hand over the funds because it said certain unspecified conditions weren’t met from its agreement. Thus it appears that Jia’s departure from the listed company, and probably most of LeEco in general, was probably the big sticking point. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Sohu could privatize and sell itself after its Changyou buyout, while LeEco’s mass layoffs could presage a shuttering of all its newer operations as it reverts to its original online video business.
LeEco slashes jobs
Two relatively large pullbacks are in the headlines as we reach the midpoint of the week, led by the latest privatization bid for online game specialist Changyou (Nasdaq: CYOU) by parent Sohu (Nasdaq: SOHU). That news is coupled with the unrelated by equally large retrenchment by struggling online video company LeEco (Shenzhen: 300104), which is making mass layoffs in its bid for survival.
Each of these stories is interesting because the future existence of a major company is at stake. In the first case, the Changyou privatization could signal a future privatization and sale of the company’s parent, Sohu, one of China’s oldest Internet players. The LeEco story represents the latest twist in the downward spiral for this company, which appears to be rapidly slimming down or closing most of its operations outside its original core online video service. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: The departure of 2 recently hired executives from Faraday Future hints at chaos and uncertainty that has spread from struggling backer LeEco, a situation that only looks set to worsen.
Faraday Future execs depart
Cash-challenged online video company LeEco (Shenzhen: 300104) is getting an early shock in the run-up to the world’s largest consumer electronics show, with word that two top executives have defected from its Faraday Future electric car unit. Anyone reading about these company for the first time is probably scratching his or her head, trying to figure out what exactly online video and electric cars have in common and why a relatively young Internet company like LeEco would be in this business. But that’s exactly the problem. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: A new Hong Kong lawsuit against LeEco by a small creditor over unpaid bills could mark the start of a new wave, which could ultimately snowball into a new crisis as its partners scramble to get back money they’re owed before it’s too late.
HK newspaper sues LeEco for unpaid debt
I’ve been skillfully avoiding writing about the embattled LeEco (Shenzhen: 300104) for the past month, even as the former online video high-flyer landed at the center of a storm that could ultimately result in its downfall. So a small story in the latest headlines, involving a lawsuit against the company over unpaid bills, looks like a good opening to take a quick look at a high-tech tale that consumed the Chinese headlines for much of last month. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: LeEco’s new US launch for its TVs, smartphones and video service is almost guaranteed to fail due to underwhelming product offerings and stiff competition.
LeEco launches phones, TVs in US
A year after opening its US e-commerce site, online video superstar LeEco (Shenzhen: 300104) has finally launched some of its leading products in the world’s biggest but also one of its most competitive markets. LeEco, formerly known as LeTV, announced it will start selling its smartphones and smart TVs in the US, as well as a new customized version of its core online video service. My main response to this aggressive and ambitious push is: Good luck!
I’ve been a big LeEco doubter for a while now, since the company has gone from relatively obscurity to superstar in just a couple of years through a series of aggressive expansions fueled mostly by taking on new investors and selling its overvalued stock. Its name change from LeTV to LeEco nicely summarizes its aspirations, since the company now bills itself as developer of an ecosystem that delivers entertainment content over a range of devices and services. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: LeEco’s smartphones will have difficulty finding a major audience over the next 2 years due to technical problems and poor after-sales service, making it hard to meet its aggressive targets.
LeEco smartphones face technical issues, poor after-sales service
An investigative report on the year-old smartphone business of online video superstar LeEco (Shenzhen: 300104) is showing how the company’s dreams of quickly becoming a major player in the crowded space might be more difficult than it realizes. Specifically, the report in the respected Yangtse Evening News is spotlighting major shortcomings in LeEco’s after-sales service, a critical link for its smartphones that are facing inevitable technical problems due to their newness.
I’ve been a LeEco smartphone skeptic for a while now, so perhaps some readers may think I’m biased in spotlighting this particular problem that all new companies face when rolling out a major new product. But the reality is that in all my years of using older cellphones and newer smartphones, never once have I owned a model that didn’t have a major problem at least once that required me to take it to a repair shop. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Rumors of a LeEco purchase of Smartisan are probably true as the company seeks a wealthy backer to continue funding its operations, and a deal could be announced in the next 2 months.
Smartisan in rumored sale talks to LeEco
Rumors surrounding a possible sale of the uppity Smartisan smartphone brand are rippling through the headlines today, providing some lively entertainment in the overheated sector. This particular story is drawing attention mostly due to Smartisan’s founder, the slightly pretentious Luo Yonghao, who was trying to parlay his success as China’s best-known English teacher into a smartphone brand. But Luo’s plan hasn’t materialized quite the way he imagined, and Smartisan is often rumored to be doing quite poorly and losing big money. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: LeEco’s rescue plan for Coolpad will fail due to stiff competition in China’s smartphone markets and overly ambitious targets for its own new line of smartphones.
LeEco ousts Coolpad CEO
Less than 2 months after becoming the largest stakeholder of Coolpad (HKEx: 2369), online video sensation LeEco (Shenzhen: 300104) is wasting no time in making major changes at the struggling smartphone maker. The most symbolic of those has LeEco’s dynamic founder Jia Yueting ousting Coolpad’s chairman and CEO and taking over the chairman’s position for himself. More substantially, LeEco is indicating it will become Coolpad’s largest customer going forward as part of its own plans to build an entertainment ecosystem around devices like Internet-connected smartphones, TVs and cars. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Skepticism by Nevada’s treasurer could kill LeEco’s plans for a $1 billion car plant in the state, and such doubts are justified due to the company’s lack of transparency and reliance on an inflated stock price to raise money.
Nevada treasurer wary of LeEco car plant financing
Plans by online video superstar LeEco (Shenzhen: 300104) for a new energy car plant in Nevada have hit a speed bump, with word that the state’s treasurer is skeptical of using loans backed by the company’s stock to finance the $1 billion project. The fact that LeEco is hitting this resistance in Nevada is somewhat ironic, since the state is famous for its embrace of gambling. But in this case I do have to applaud Nevada treasures Dan Schwartz for his skepticism, since I personally think LeEco has built its sudden entertainment empire on a hugely speculative pile of debt and hype about China’s Internet. Read Full Post…
