Cash-strapped Leshi names Sun Hongbin as new chairman

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China's cash-strapped Internet conglomerate Leshi Internet Information & Technology has named Sun Hongbin as company chairman.

It comes after founder Jia Yueting stepped down from the company earlier this month.

Sun, former chairman of property developer Sunac, invested 15 billion yuan in LeEco earlier this year.

His election as chairman allows him to control Leshi, while former chairman Jia concentrates ambitions to rival Elon Musk's Tesla Motors in making electronic vehicles.

Jia Yueting and Sun Hongbin in a strategic agreement signing ceremony in January, 2017. /CFP Photo

Sun had been voted in as a board member earlier this week during a brief shareholder meeting to decide the company's new leadership.

The meeting only lasted 15 minutes, as suppliers of LeEco's products gathered outside the meeting hall demanding payment of debts.

According to Yicai, a business media group, the total loans owed to vendors amount to over 600 billion yuan (88.6 billion US dollars).

Jia has been working in the US in recent weeks focusing on LeEco's electric vehicle as Chinese netizens speculate whether he has fled to America and will not come back.

Leshi said earlier this month that it expected to log a net loss between 636.7 million yuan (94 million US dollars) and 641.7 million yuan for the first half of this year.

In a statement to the Shenzen stock exchange on Friday, Leshi said CEO Liang Jun had been named the company's legal representative.