LeTV, which started with video, relied on continuous entry into the industries of film and television, sports, mobile phones, etc., and once became a “big Mac†with a market value of 100 billion, and established its own ecosystem. In recent years, LeTV has been well known for its commitment to the Internet. In the LeEco ecosystem, the auto sector is independent of the listed and unlisted sectors, which shows its important position in the heart of LeTV's founder Jia Yueting. Let's take a look at the related content with the car electronics editor.
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Unpredictable, Jia Yueting can make a dream round?
In late May, at the media communication meeting held by LeTV, Jia Yueting resigned as the general manager of LeTV. He only served as the chairman of LeTV. He said: "The future business of the entire LeTV system will be transformed into three major segments, namely, the listed sector, the unlisted segment and the automotive segment, and the listed segment and the automotive segment. The non-listed business will eventually be merged into the listed business."
Building a car ecology
After reviewing the information, the reporter found that LeTV's Internet-built roads went smoothly at the beginning, and Jia Yueting pushed the progress forward.
In 2013, Jia Yueting gave birth to the idea of ​​“developing and releasing an electric carâ€, which was the first buzz of LeTV. In February 2014, Jia Yueting further determined the idea of ​​being a LeTV electric car at a coffee shop in Los Angeles Airport. However, this idea was opposed by LeTV executives. In the words of Jia Yueting, it is "99% of the core high-level opposition." However, his own attitude is very touching: "Even if LeTV is driving the car, it may drag us to death, and even the listed company will be dragged to death. We will never die, but as long as LeTV has done this, it will greatly promote this industry in China. development of."
Jia Yueting personally invested nearly 1 billion yuan in automobile ecology. Under his insistence, at the end of 2014, LeTV finally announced that the “SEE Program†entered the automotive industry and said it would build a super-car and automotive Internet electric ecosystem.
Subsequently, LeTV launched a series of investment mergers and acquisitions around the car, and continued to make breakthrough progress.
In January 2015, LeTV released the first smart car UI system, LeUI Auto, which is China's first smart car UI system. Then, in September of the same year, LeTV announced a strategic investment charging pile company; in October, LeEco Holdings easily reached 70% of the car. In April 2016, LeTV supercar strategic partner Faraday Future (hereinafter referred to as FF) officially laid the foundation for the factory in North Las Vegas, USA. At the Beijing Auto Show, the first pure electric concept car of LeSEE, the official car brand of LeTV, was unveiled at the Beijing Auto Show. . In December, the LeTV Moganshan Supercar Project with an investment of 20 billion yuan was announced.
LeTV also invited many well-known figures from the industry to join, and quickly formed a luxury team including Ding Lei (who used to be vice president of SAIC and deputy head of Pudong New Area).
In just two years, LeTV quickly set up a “car ecosystemâ€, which is independent of the listed company LeTV. It is not in the holding company of the listed company.
Struggling with financial difficulties
If in 2015, Jia Yueting would think that in the seven major ecosystems, LeTV was ranked first. But now, he may have to admit: listed companies ranked first, LeTV ranked second.
The dream of making a car is huge. On the one hand, LeTV is developing LeTV supercars. On the other hand, Jia Yueting has invested in FF and Lucid companies in the United States. These are “burning money†projects.
Seniors in the automotive industry told reporters that a mature car manufacturer wants to build a new model that takes at least five years. The five major aspects of R&D, design, manufacturing, testing and mass production require large-scale financial support. , a large number of personnel collaboration and excellent technical research and development capabilities. "This is a great challenge for Jia Yueting and LeTV Group," said the senior.
In the second half of 2016, LeTV's dream of building a car seems to have begun to encounter resistance. Although the investment in the automotive business is still going on, LeTV has already fallen into the crisis of the capital chain break, and even once shrouded the cloud of layoffs.
In November 2016, Jia Yueting published an internal letter entitled “Lee's Seawater and Flame: Whether It Was Engulfed by a Huge Wave or Boiling the Oceanâ€, acknowledging that there was a problem with the LeTV capital chain, and the bleeding point was LeTV's business. "LeTV has invested heavily in the early stage, and has spent more than 10 billion yuan of its own funds, which directly led to my personal lack of financial support for LeEco." Jia Yueting said in the letter.
In April, LeEco’s easy-to-use car founders Zhou Hang and Jia Yueting “turned their facesâ€. Zhou Hang said that "it is easy to get money without being affected by LeTV." LeTV has borrowed 1.4 billion yuan from Yiyi, but has misappropriated 1.3 billion yuan. According to people familiar with the matter, the current Yidao is looking for a sales path. “There is a shortage of funds to get a good price to quench your thirst.â€
At the Shanghai Auto Show in the same month, LeTV Auto disappeared and did not appear at all. This is in sharp contrast to the high-profile appearance of LeTV in Beijing at the Beijing Auto Show in 2016. Some voices believe that this is a manifestation of LeTV's lack of follow-up funds and no progress.
In late May, LeTV North officially announced the layoff of 325 people, accounting for nearly three-quarters. An insider revealed that in the face of the reality of financial difficulties, Jia Yueting had to sacrifice the US market to give way to a car dream.
Some people think that these are the performances of Jia Yueting's "Removing the East Wall to Make up the Western Wall". Jia Yueting himself admitted: "My personal investment can be adjusted. Some of them are invested in LeEco Global, and some are thrown into the car. When they are nervous, they will withdraw this money."
Unpredictable car can dream round
At a time when the market was questioned and the funds were scarce, LeTV finally got a “life-saving money†– Sunac China injected 15 billion yuan into LeTV to ease the tension of its capital chain. However, Sun Hongbin, the chairman of Sunac China, is not optimistic about Jia Yueting’s dream of making a car, and the funds injected have deliberately bypassed the LeTV segment.
Sun Hongbin said at the company's performance conference that "I have not understood LeTV." He asked three questions in a row: When did the inflection point of the electric vehicle market come? How can battery technology breakthroughs and corresponding cost reductions be realized? When will the charging conditions mature? "Although Internet cars are very interesting, we will be very careful. At least there are no conditions at present. We have made the existing investment well, and it is not necessary to invest in the future, but we are not considering investing in LeTV." Sun Hongbin said.
Despite this, Jia Yueting still firmly believes that his dream of making a car is worth promoting. At the media communication meeting, Jia Yueting said, "The most difficult stage of LeEco has passed, and the next thing is not unfinishable," and announced that "LeTV Auto A round of financing will start soon and is expected to be completed within the year." He still released a signal of confidence.
For LeTV's Internet car dreams, the outside world has different opinions.
"From the latest calibre of LeTV, the car has in fact become a marginalized business unit, although the official may not be willing to admit it." Investment agency Evercore ISI automotive industry analyst Arnot Elinhorst ( Arndt Ellinghorst) said, “This is equivalent to leaving a back door in the ecological closed loop that can be exploited by competitors, which is extremely detrimental to the long-term development of LeTV.â€
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