Troubled LeEco founder pledges to pay back debts as crisis worsens

Jia Yueting, founder of China's troubled Internet media giant LeEco, has promised to take full responsibility as the company's debt crisis worsens, days after a Chinese court froze billions of dollars of the firm's assets.

In a Weibo post published on his personal account on Thursday, the billionaire tycoon said although he stepped down from the post of LeEco's CEO, he is still the executive director and the biggest shareholder of the company. "All these arrangements are aimed at taking FF91 to production and hitting the market as soon as possible," Jia explained, citing the electric car that the company has determined to deliver.

"I sincerely ask everyone to give LeEco more time, to give LeEco's vehicle business more time. We will repay our debts to our creditors, suppliers and everyone else," Jia wrote.

Prototype of electric car by LeEco FF91. /VCG Photo

The online statement comes after a Shanghai court on Monday ordered the freezing of 1.237 billion yuan (182 million US dollars) in assets linked to LeEco, its subsidiaries, and its founder Jia Yueting.

The ruling was in response to legal action brought by China Merchants Bank over unpaid loans to a LeEco smartphone unit, Leview Mobile.

LeEco, founded in 2004, initially provided online video streaming, but Jia later launched ambitious forays into electric vehicles, smartphones, filmmaking and other areas, which have reportedly stretched the company's balance sheet.

The business has been been downsized since last year in an attempt to cater to its debt problem, however Jia's latest statement made it clear that LeEco remains committed to its car strategy.

Jia Yueting. /VCG Photo

"However big the obstacles we are confronting, LeEco will continue our dream of revolutionizing the vehicle industry," Jia pledged in the open letter.

During a shareholder meeting at the end of June, Jia admitted that the company's cash crunch is "worse than expected."

Jia, one of China’s most high-profile tech personalities, was named by Forbes as the country’s 37th richest person, with an estimated net worth of 4.5 billion US dollars last year. As of Wednesday, his net worth had plunged to 3.6 billion US dollars, Forbes said.