Jia Yueting’s Leshi, ‘China’s Netflix’, delists from Shenzhen exchange with a final market cap down 99.6 per cent from its peak
- The company’s valuation sank to 718 million yuan (US$102.7 million) on its final day of trading, from an all-time high of 170 billion yuan in 2015
- Firms controlled by founder Jia Yueting still owe Leshi some 7.53 billion yuan
Leshi Internet Information and Technology, once dubbed “China's Netflix”, ended its nearly 10-year run as a listed entity on Monday, with its market value sinking 99.6 per cent from its peak five years ago.
The video-streaming service provider marked its exit unchanged at 0.18 yuan, giving it a valuation of 718 million yuan (US$102.7 million), a far cry from 170 billion yuan in 2015. Some 121 million yuan worth of shares changed hands.
“Once the company’s stock is delisted, it cannot re-list on the bourse,” Leshi said in a statement late on Friday. The company was founded by embattled Chinese entrepreneur Jia Yueting, who last year filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the US.
It entered delisting proceedings on June 5, after reporting huge losses for a third consecutive year in 2019 and crossing the threshold for delisting. It debuted on ChiNext, a technology board for Chinese start-ups on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, in 2010.
Leshi, once seen as a potential Chinese technology titan, is part of embattled Chinese conglomerate LeEco founded and headed by Jia. Various companies controlled by Jia owed Leshi some 7.53 billion yuan.
Once dubbed “China's Steve Jobs”, he had envisioned building an empire to rival US technology giants Apple, Tesla and Amazon.
