Hong Kong arm of embattled Chinese conglomerate LeEco ordered by court to wind up business in city
LeEco, formerly called LeTV, is best known locally for providing television content
A Hong Kong arm of embattled Chinese conglomerate LeEco was on Wednesday ordered by a court to close down its operations in the city.
The application led to the appointment of Barry Tong Piu and David James Bennett from accounting firm Grant Thornton as the company’s provisional liquidators.
Embattled Leshi, ‘China’s Netflix’, says it may have lost US$1.8 billion in 2017
The order was officially granted by High Court Master Hui Ka-ho on Wednesday.
LeEco, formerly called LeTV, is best known in Hong Kong for providing television content.
According to the Companies Registry, LE Corporation is a private company incorporated on June 9, 2015. It is wholly owned by Beijing-based technology firm Le.com, which is a subsidiary of LeEco, founded by Chinese entrepreneur Jia Yueting.
The wind-up came after LE Corporation faced a flurry of civil claims starting in 2016.
These included a US$224,000 lawsuit over copyright fees mounted by Hong Kong film distributor Sundream Motion Pictures in December 2016, and a HK$530,000 (US$67,700) claim by local newspaper Hong Kong Economic Times seeking outstanding advertising fees.
In August 2016, a marketing firm also sued LE Corporation for marketing fees owed that amounted to HK$14 million.
Just days later, an advertising company, Innity China Company, lodged a civil suit against LeSports involving overdue advertising fees of up to HK$3.85 million.
How ‘China’s Steve Jobs’ bit off more than he could chew and saw his tech empire collapse
Le.com, legally known as Leshi Internet Information and Technology, is listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. Last November, mainland China’s securities regulator said it was investigating the firm for suspected fraud involving its 2010 initial public offering.
The following July, Jia stepped down from his management role at Leshi.
It was announced last November that Sun had tried to bail out LeEco for a second time by providing US$270 million in loans to its video streaming and television units businesses Leshi Internet and Leshi Zhixin.
