Jia Yueting, LeEco, China

Jia speaks during an unveiling event for the Faraday Future FF 91 electric car in Las Vegas, Nevada. Source: Reuters

Jia Yueting leaves Leshi, remains chairman of LeEco

Jia Yueting will step down as chief executive of Leshi Internet Information & Technology Corp. Beijing, but will retain his position as chairman of its parent company LeEco, with the company’s finance chief also to be replaced, according to a stock exchange filing on Sunday.

Shenzhen-listed Leshi is part of Jia’s larger business empire LeEco, which began with a Netflix-like video streaming service and expanded into new products and services from consumer electronics to cars.

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The company’s cash problems have remained persistent – as late as April, the company has struggled to pay their suppliers, resulting in some bitter haranguing in the sector, such as LeEco’s issues with driverless car-innovator, Faraday Futures. The company also halted trading on Leshi stocks when the company planned a major meeting to discuss restructuring its affiliated businesses; the resulting fall in value has not helped.

Jia’s ambition to drive LeEco to startup-stardom is well-documented -robed in the monochromatic colors of a Silicon Valley convert, Jia has claimed repeatedly that he wants his company to become a Tesla-like entity for China. For now, that seems a bit of a pipe dream.

SEE ALSO: LeEco’s ‘American dream’ gets derailed amid persistent financial problems

Continuing as chairman, Jia will focus on corporate governance, strategic planning and core product innovation, the filing said.

The board approved longtime Lenovo executive Liang Jun, who joined Leshi as an executive in 2012, to replace Jia as CEO.

Leshi also announced Yang Lijie would resign as chief financial officer due to personal reasons and be replaced by Zhang Wei, the company’s China CFO.

Additional reporting by Samantha Cheh