Former LeEco Building Auctioned for $90 Million
The former LeEco headquarter Lerong Building (previously known as LeEco Building) started auction on Tuesday, with only one bidder, Beijing Hengying Property Management Co., Ltd., which offered about 573 million yuan ($90 million) for the property.
Tianyancha App shows that Hengying was established on November 25, 2021. Its legal representative is Zhang Hongming and has a registered capital of about 10 million yuan. Its business focuses on property management, commercial premises rental, and office rental, among other real estate businesses.
LeEco was established in November 2004 and was listed on the Chinese GEM (Growth Enterprise Market) on Aug 12, 2010. As the only video website listed in China at that time and the first video website launched IPO worldwide, LeEco seemed to have a bright future and expanded its business scope.
In 2014, LeEco successively launched LeEco smartphone, LeEco sports, etc., and developed rapidly. To find new office space for the growing number of employees, LeEco purchased a building and renamed it LeEco Building.
At the end of 2016, LeEco ran into money problems and Jia Yueting, founder of LeEco was listed as an untrustworthy executor. Despite the label, Jia later went on to found the Faraday Future (FF) automobile brand outside of China. After Jia was considered no longer able to pay the finances of the company, the LeEco Building was pledged as an asset for a loan of 1.4 billion yuan. In January 2017, Sunac China Holdings Limited spent about 15 billion yuan to acquire some shares of Le.com, LeEco Zhixin and LeEco Pictures. After this series of acquisitions, the LeEco Building was renamed Lerong Building.
At the end of 2017, LeEco tried to sell the Lerong Building at a price of 1.4 billion yuan, but no one took up the offer because of debt disputes. In November 2019 and September this year, Beijing No.3 Intermediate People’s Court held two public auctions of the Lerong Building, but both auctions were suspended because outsiders raised objections to the auctioned property.
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One other asset of Jia Yueting in China, Shimao Gongsan, was successfully auctioned before. In July, according to the official website of the Beijing Equity Exchange, the auction of Shimao Gongsan Shopping Mall held by LeEco Holdings was auctioned for 1.645 billion yuan. The reason why LeEco acquired this mall in 2016 is that the company hoped to develop the building into a commercial complex featuring LeEco’s ecological world, product display and other functions. However, shortly after LeEco took over full control of Shimao Gongsan, LeEco ran into its debt crisis and the plan ran aground.
