LeEco cutting its US workforce, plans to sell Silicon Valley headquarters

by Luis D. / Mar 18, 2017, 8:25 AM

LeEco could add $10 million to the HQ's selling price if they paid to mow the lawn

It's no secret that LeEco, a Chinese technology and entertainment company, spent more than it should have in its expansion efforts and is having all kinds of trouble as a result. The brand, which sells a bunch of moderately priced smartphones, TVs, and accessories in the US, also maintains an HQ in Silicon Valley.

Reuters reports that LeEco has been cutting its American workforce and is struggling to pay its debts. In a more worrying act, it plans to sell off its 49-acre Silicon Valley office to Genzon Group. The company had plans to turn the building into an "EcoCity" housing 12,000 employees. The sell-off doesn't mean LeEco has given up on its ambitions, though – the company told Digital Trends that it's researching prospective investors and development partners.

LeEco hasn't announced any sales numbers in the US, but you probably don't see too many people walking around with its handsets or accessories. The company isn't working with the US carriers and its marketing strategies are rudimentary, which diminishes its chances of competing, despite having solid deals on offer.

Still, the company is working on a new smartphone scheduled for an April 11 announcement, and has been steadily partnering with US retailers for distribution. So LeEco does do many things right, though spending too much money obviously isn't among them.

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source: Reuters via Digital Trends

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19 Comments

1. Takeharu

Posts: 283; Member since: Oct 28, 2013

That's fast af

posted on Mar 18, 2017, 8:56 AM 3

2. kiko007

Posts: 7459; Member since: Feb 17, 2016

What'd you expect? Chinese entertainment company + overly unrealistic expansion - customer retention/attention = failed venture. They were doomed to this fate here from the very beginning. America isn't a price sensitive market lol.

posted on Mar 18, 2017, 9:00 AM 2

5. aegislash

Posts: 1434; Member since: Jan 27, 2015

Holy sh*t...already? As bad as it is to see a company go downhill, I honestly find it hilarious considering their CEO is an egotistical narcissist who spent a majority of the US launch event just talking about himself, rather than even remotely going into detail about the products LeEco was bringing to the US.

posted on Mar 18, 2017, 9:42 AM 2

11. k9luvr

Posts: 122; Member since: Oct 17, 2016

Are you talking about the president of LeAco or President of the US

posted on Mar 18, 2017, 10:19 AM 2

12. aegislash

Well I was talking about the LeEco President....but you're right, the same could be applied to Trump as well.

posted on Mar 18, 2017, 11:22 AM 1

6. amasog

Posts: 552; Member since: Aug 22, 2013

Hu!!! Leeco? What is leeco?

posted on Mar 18, 2017, 9:46 AM 0

7. NarutoKage14

Posts: 1295; Member since: Aug 31, 2016

Doesn't the owner also own Faraday Future? That's another venture that may fail this year due to overly fast expansion.

posted on Mar 18, 2017, 9:51 AM 2

22. TerryTerius unregistered

First thing that popped in my mind.

posted on Mar 20, 2017, 6:02 AM 0

10. ibend

Posts: 6747; Member since: Sep 30, 2014

I see that coming... lol... building HQ wont help them getting more customers.. but, building 10-20 stores and service centers across states will be more useful (and could be cheaper too..)

posted on Mar 18, 2017, 10:16 AM 0

14. ExLeEco

Posts: 3; Member since: Mar 18, 2017

Look up LeEco on Glassdoor

posted on Mar 18, 2017, 12:50 PM 0

15. ExLeEco

Oh and a correction; the 49 acres is mostly a parking lot used by Levi Stadium. The are maybe 3 teardown builds on the sight. They paid Yahoo $225M for the property mid 2016.

posted on Mar 18, 2017, 12:53 PM 0

17. kerginaldo17 unregistered

Leeco had eyes larger than his belly.

posted on Mar 18, 2017, 3:20 PM 0

18. BlackhawkFlys

Posts: 899; Member since: May 07, 2014

Expanding very quickly always result in failure. We experienced it. My cousin experienced. And everyone looking for a quick expansion will fail... You need to make a good name and strong position in one market then use the revenue generated my that market to expand into your nearest market. To enter a strong market such as US your product has to be extraordinary. Xiaomi could have done great by moving into the US market with Mi Mix but they missed their chance. They couldn't even meet the product demand in their home market.

posted on Mar 18, 2017, 3:41 PM 0

19. kishore3k

Posts: 102; Member since: Mar 11, 2016

Now I know why xiaomi is too shy to enter into US

posted on Mar 18, 2017, 9:59 PM 0

20. Chuck007

Posts: 1409; Member since: Mar 02, 2014

Poor execution pretty much ruined their chances of making it big in America. How else would people respond when you blatantly called out leading companies crap from the get-go while proving nothing with your launch products (let's face it NONE of their products stood out)?

posted on Mar 19, 2017, 6:28 AM 0

21. kerginaldo17 unregistered

In addition the smartphone market is very saturated.Different of the old time of Nokia where the manufacturers counted on the fingers of one hand

posted on Mar 19, 2017, 10:01 AM 0

23. Doakie

Posts: 2465; Member since: May 06, 2009

Ugh. I had high hopes LeEco would have a successful move into the USA, I liked the idea of another large tech company competitor to Google/Apple/Amazon/Microsoft/Facebook. I liked their phone until I saw the UI. The software bloat was exactly what stopped me from buying one. The price was good but the UI looked too heavy for the US market. I honestly think they'd have had a good run if they launched the LeEco LePro 3 with a Nexus like Android experience and just their LeEco apps locked in there. I would have one right now, and I'd probably also be watching all their streaming things as well.