LeEco founder steps down from listed unit

The founder of LeEco, a Chinese Netflix-to-Tesla-like conglomerate, has stepped down as the CEO of the group’s main listed unit, as the company begins to streamline and cut debt after rapid expansion led to a cash crunch. According to Reuters, Jia Yueting, who will remain as chairman and CEO of LeEco, envisions the group maintaining its separate unlisted automotive unit but rolling all other areas of business into Leshi Internet Information & Technology Corp Beijing. The firm has also trimmed loans by nearly half from a peak of 10 billion yuan ($1.45 billion), Jia said. Shenzhen-listed Leshi said in a stock exchange filing that Liang Jun, a long-time Lenovo Group executive who joined Leshi in 2012, will replace Jia as chief executive officer. Leshi’s finance chief Yang Linjie, who resigned for personal reasons, will also be replaced by Zhang Wei. The restructuring comes several months after the group received a much-needed $2.2 billion investment from property developer Sunac China Holdings.