The billionaire founder of LeEco, one of China’s hottest technology groups, has told employees that his company has burnt through cash too quickly as it expanded into businesses ranging from movie production to driverless cars.
The company had been seen as a leading example of a Chinese technology company poised to profit from the rebalancing of the country’s economy away from heavy industry towards consumption and services.
But problems with its strategy were laid bare in a letter from Jia Yueting, founder and chief executive, which raised doubts about the pursuit of market share growth — a path that many Chinese technology companies have followed.