China-based electronics manufacturers are more confident than ever to expand their roots outside their country. India, the US and other countries have proved successful grounds for operations for most tech giants operating in the smartphone and television categories. But LeEco – the China-based smartphone and TV maker – did not see the same fate as its rivals.
Continuing its lay-off spree, LeEco has confirmed that it has let go of 325 employees in San Diego, postponing the company's plans to expand in the US market indefinitely, PhoneArena reported on Wednesday. The company's unstable financial status and ailing business has resulted in loss of many international jobs and halted launches of new products.
The report further revealed that the company also sold its land property in Silicon Valley, which was purchased with the intention of setting up LeEco headquarters. Other major setbacks for LeEco include the company CEO's resignation, cancellation of EcoPass streaming content subscription service in the US and stepping back from the Vizio acquisition deal citing regulatory hurdles.
LeEco's future in the US isn't the only concern the company has been embroiled with. In fact, its operations and sales outlook in India also seems bleak at the moment. After hosting lavish launch events in the initial days, the company took a major step back and almost stopped releasing any products in the country.
Earlier in March, the company fired as many as 85 percent of its employees in India, which sparked a major speculation about LeEco's exit from the country. The company also lost two head positions - Atul Jain, chief operating officer of smart electronics business, and Debashish Ghosh, chief operating officer for Internet applications, services and content – during its firing spree.
Despite the unexpected turnout for the company in India, which had an enormous marketing budget of Rs 80 crore a month, the company denied plans to shut its operations in the country. But the same cannot be said about the US market. There haven't been any product releases in the country and it doesn't seem like the company has any plans to launch new products until the finances are stable.
Until then, PhoneArena reported that the company will look out for investment deals to stabilise its finances and provide content for Chinese-speaking people in the US.
