Jia Yueting

Jia Yueting (Chinese: 贾跃亭; born 15 December 1973)[2], also known as YT,[3] is a Chinese businessman who is the founder of Leshi Holding Group and the former CEO of Faraday Future.[4][5][6] He previously founded LeEco and the Le.com subsidiary LeSports, and is the former chairman and CEO of Le.com as well as the former chairman of both Coolpad Group and Sinotel Technologies.

This is a Chinese name; the family name is Jia (贾).
Jia Yueting
Born (1973-12-15) December 15, 1973
Xiangfen County, Linfen, Shanxi, China
NationalityChinese
Other namesYT Jia
OccupationBusinessman
Known forFounder and former CEO, Faraday Future and LeEco
Net worth$3.3 billion (March 2017)[1]
Board member of
Faraday Future
Spouse(s)Gan Wei
Children3
Chinese name
Simplified Chinese贾跃亭
Traditional Chinese賈躍亭

Yueting has been involved in several financial controversies related to his companies. In October 14, 2019, he filed for bankruptcy with a personal debt of over USD $3.6 billion.[7]

Early life

Jia Yueting was born in Xiangfen County, Linfen, Shanxi province, China in 1973.[8][9]

Education

Jia went to College of Finance and Taxation of Shanxi Province and later graduated from the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business.[10][11]

Career

Jia started as a tech support officer in a Shanxi Province tax office.

Sinotel Technologies / Xbell Communication

Yueting was the owner of former Singapore-listed company Sinotel Technologies.[12] Before the privatization of the company, Jia Yueting owned 26% of its shares.[13] Sinotel Technologies was the parent company of Xbell Union Communication and second-tier subsidiaries Shanxi Xbell Communication (Chinese: 山西西贝尔通信科技).[13] A subsidiary, Xbell Investment, was sold by Sinotel Technologies to LeEco (Leshi Holdings (Beijing)), another company owned by Jia Yueting.[13]

Leshi, LeEco & Le.com

Jia founded Le.com and later LeEco (Leshi Holding Beijing). In 2015, he purchased Coolpad Group from Guo Deying via Lele Holding and intermediate holding company LeEco Global.[14]

In July 2017, he resigned as the chairman and CEO of Le.com. He was replaced by Sun Hongbin, chairman of the second largest shareholder of Le.com, Sunac China. Le.com general manager Liang Jun and Le Vision Pictures chairman and CEO Zhang Zhao were also elected onto the board.

On December 25, 2017, the Beijing Bureau of China Securities Regulatory Commission publicly ordered Jia to return to China to take his responsibility as the controlling shareholder of Le.com.[15] Jia refused to return, sending his wife instead to solve the financial issues, which sparked criticism from the Chinese government and the online community.[16] Jia had sold part of the share of Le.com and lend the same amount of money he received to the listed company, which he made a written agreement with the company for the loan. However, the loan was not renewed, making the financial troubles of the company even worse.[17]

Lucid Motors

Jia Yueting's involvement with Lucid Motors started in 2014, when LeEco, along with other investors, invested $100 million into Atieva (Lucid Motors's former name)[18]. In April 2016, Jia Yueting used money he previously borrowed in China[19] to purchase a stake of over 20 percent in Lucid Motors[18], a direct competitor of Faraday Future. The move was characterized by some industry observers as "a destructive strategy", with people pointing out that Jia Yueting actually did not want Lucid Motors to succeed.[19]

As of February 2019, Jia Yueting still owns a large stake in Lucid Motors.[20]

Faraday Future

Jia is a co-founder of Faraday Future. At the end of 2017, he became the CEO of the company, moving to California to perform his duties.[3] He then sold the majority stake of Faraday Future to Evergrande Health, a subsidiary of Evergrande Group while remaining as the CEO of the company.[21] He later sued Evergrande for withholding promised payments but reached an agreement to settle the litigation, after which Evergrande restructured its US$2 billion investment for a 32% stake.[22][23].

On July 5, 2017, Jia Yueting moved to Los Angeles, claiming that his trip to the US was due to the related financial affairs of Faraday Future.[24].

The first pre-production FF 91 model from Faraday Future has rolled off the line at the company's facility in Hanford, California on August 28, 2018. Jia tweeted that this is the "new species" of electric vehicle.[25]

Financial issues

In 2017, a court in Shanghai issued a freezing order on 1.2 billion renminbi worth of Jia Yueting's assets in China.[26] After leaving China, Yueting spent at least US$21 million on beach houses and properties in California.[27][28]

He has been dubbed by some English media outlets as "China's Steve Jobs", although lately it has been used to showcase the overexpansion of his technology companies.[29] Yueting has been dubbed by some Chinese media outlets as a "PowerPoint CEO".[30], a reference to his long history of repetitively announcing vaporwares.[31]

In December 2017, Jia was named to China's debt blacklist after he violated a court order by refusing to return to China to pay up more than 470 million RMB that he owed to Ping An Group.[32][33][34][3]

In late 2018, courts in both British Virgin Islands and California, enforced freezing of Jia's assets, including his ownership stake in Faraday Future and the properties he owned in California.[35][36]

In January 2019, Shimao Gongsan, a major shopping complex owned by Jia Yueting in Beijing’s Sanlitun area, failed to be sold in an online auction.[37]

In October 2019, Jia filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Delaware, US.[7] Yueting owed billions of dollars to more than 100 creditors in China.[38]

In December 2019, the Department of Justice accused Jia of engaging in dishonest behavior during the bankruptcy and filed a motion to have a new bankruptcy trustee appointed. The Office of the US Trustee criticized Jia and said that in general they had found him to be untrustworthy during their dealings with him.[38]

On May 21, 2020 the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California entered an order officially confirming the chapter 11 reorganization plan (the “Plan”) for Faraday Future (FF)'s founder and Chief Product and User-Eco officer (CPUO), YT Jia.[39]

Personal life

He is married to Gan Wei.[40] Gan Wei filed for divorce from Jia Yueting in late 2019 [41][42]

gollark: Isn't that a misunderstanding of fiduciary duty? I vaguely remember reading that.
gollark: And apparently my hacky patch to the UI to make it not bad has broken now.
gollark: Ugh, Firefox wants me to "restart" it so it can "update".
gollark: I guess those are also WiFi devices now. But still.
gollark: Anyway, this is for WiFi devices, not phones.

References
  1. "Forbes profile: Jia Yueting". Forbes. Retrieved 14 October 2019.
  2. "Court file".
  3. Fred Lambert (20 December 2017). "Faraday Future expats spin off a new electric car startup". electrek.
  4. "China's disgraced Leshi sees US$1.8 billion loss for 2017". Asia Times. February 1, 2018.
  5. "Nobody Wants to Buy Disgraced Entrepreneur Jia Yueting's Beijing Mall". Caixin. January 9, 2019.
  6. "Embattled LeEco Founder Defies Beijing Order to Return to China". The Hollywood Reporter. January 2, 2018.
  7. O'Kane, Sean (October 14, 2019). "Faraday Future founder files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy". The Verge. Retrieved October 20, 2019.
  8. "Jia Yueting". Hurun. Retrieved 23 February 2015.
  9. "China Rich List 2014". Hurun. Archived from the original on 31 December 2015. Retrieved 23 February 2015.
  10. "独家 贾跃亭如何拿下长江商学院同学的6亿美金投资?" (in Chinese). Retrieved 21 March 2019.
  11. "起底贾跃亭发家前经历：曾在地税局工作 还办过学校" (in Chinese). Retrieved 21 March 2019.
  12. Ramchandani, Nisha (12 March 2015). "Sinotel Technologies chairman launches offer to take firm private". The Business Times. Singapore. Retrieved 1 September 2017.
  13. "2014 Annual Report" (PDF). Sinotel Technologies. 8 April 2015. Archived from the original on 9 November 2016. Retrieved 1 September 2017.CS1 maint: unfit url (link)
  14. Liao Shumin. "LeEco Founder Jia Yueting Sells His Stake in Smartphone Unit Coolpad to Pay Debts". Yicai Global. Retrieved 9 May 2019.
  15. "Will LeEco Founder Obey Regulator and Return to China? - Caixin Global". www.caixinglobal.com. Retrieved 2018-08-29.
  16. "LeEco Faraday Future Founder Jia Yueting Skips Out On Chinese Authorities - Clean Technica". cleantechnica.com. Retrieved 2018-01-02.
  17. 林 [Lin], 婷婷 [Ting-ting] (25 December 2017). 北京证监局责令贾跃亭回国履责 [Beijing Bureau of China Securities Regulatory Commission ordered Jia Yueting to return to the country for his responsibility]. China Securities Journal (in Chinese). Beijing. Retrieved 6 January 2017.
  18. "Electric car startup Lucid Motors is short of cash and weighing its options". Recode. July 20, 2017.
  19. "Tesla challenger Lucid Motors also in talks with Saudi Arabia for reported $1 billion funding". August 20, 2018.
  20. "Lucid Motors is working on an electric SUV that may debut this year". The Verge. February 21, 2019.
  21. "Evergrande pays US$853.85 million for stake in troubled electric vehicle maker Faraday Future". South China Morning Post. Hong Kong: South China Morning Post Publishers (Alibaba Group). 25 June 2018. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
  22. "Faraday Future accuses Evergrande of deliberately holding back funding to gain control of electric car start-up". South China Morning Post. Hong Kong: South China Morning Post Publishers (Alibaba Group). 8 October 2018. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
  23. "Faraday Future ends battle with key investor, gets bridge loan". Autoblog. Retrieved 2019-03-06.
  24. "Leshi Claims Jia Yueting Will Return to China Soon". July 14, 2017.
  25. Blanco, Sebastian. "Faraday Future's First Pre-Production FF 91 Is Here". Forbes. Retrieved 2019-03-06.
  26. "Cash-strapped LeEco reportedly sees 1.2 billion yuan in assets frozen over unpaid debts". CNBC. July 4, 2017.
  27. "Faraday Future CEO's long trail of debt is finally catching up to him". The Verge. December 8, 2018.
  28. "Faraday Future CEO's Stake in Company and Mansions Frozen in yet Another Loan Dispute". The Drive. December 18, 2018.
  29. "How 'China's Steve Jobs' went 'all in' and lost his tech empire". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 2018-01-06.
  30. "How an eager Chinese tech group stumbled in America". Financial Times. June 6, 2017.
  31. "A partner of Faraday Future that was mocked for 'producing cars in PowerPoint' is looking like less of a joke". Business Insider. October 5, 2016.
  32. "The founder of China's LeEco has just been added to a nationwide blacklist". CNBC. December 13, 2017.
  33. "LeEco founder defies China return order, stays in U.S. for car fundraising". Reuters. January 2, 2018.
  34. Raymond Zhong; Carolyne Zhang (13 December 2017). "China Names and Shames Tech Tycoon With Debt Blacklist". New York Times.
  35. "Time runs out for embattled Chinese tycoon Jia Yueting as court freezes his Faraday Future assets". South China Morning Post. December 11, 2018.
  36. "Federal court freezes Faraday Future CEO's ownership stake, California mansions". The Verge. December 14, 2018.
  37. "Nobody Wants to Buy Disgraced Entrepreneur Jia Yueting's Beijing Mall". Caixin. January 9, 2019.
  38. O'Kane, Sean. "DOJ intervenes in Faraday Future founder's bankruptcy after 'dishonest behavior'". www.theverge.com. The Verge. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
  39. https://www.ff.com/us/press-room/confirmation-of-Chapter-11-plan-for-YT-Jia/
  40. "Wife swapping: LeEco juggles its businesses and acquires LeYoung". Week in China. 2017-04-28.
  41. "Exclusive: Ex-Tycoon Jia Yueting's Creditors Demand He Remain Responsible for Debt". caixingglobal. 2019-12-02.
  42. "Faraday Founder Faces New Bankruptcy Creditor: His Wife". Bloomberg Law. 2020-01-28.
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