SAN FRANCISCO, May 23 (Xinhua) -- LeEco, a Chinese technology company, acknowledged Tuesday that it faces "challenges with raising new capital" and is planning to lay off 325 employees in the United States.
In a statement from its North American headquarters in San Jose, Northern California, which opened April last year, LeEco noted that "the breadth of our business model is capital intensive" and it has been "difficult in the past few months to support all of our business' priorities."
Starting as a video programming provider in China in 2004, the company has expanded into consumer electronics businesses, with product lines including smart TV sets and smartphones, inside and outside China, and has been working with other companies to develop an electric vehicle with self-driving capabilities.
In the latest statement, LeEco claimed "we've made progress in growing our distribution channels."
However, it noted that "the capital we do have will have to be highly focused resulting in a significant restructuring and streamlining of our business, operations and workforce. This will impact approximately 325 people in the United States."
LeEco talked about hiring about 700 at its Silicon Valley facility last year but since has not confirmed or updated the size of its U.S. workforce.
"We will continue to operate in the U.S. with our existing product portfolio that puts content at the heart of the experience, and we believe that our products can compete," the company said.
