LeEco lays off 85% staff in India in 'optimization exercise', not exiting market

Chinese internet and smartphone company, LeEco, is on an “optimization exercise” in India and has laid off over 270 members of its staff in the country, according to reports. As of today, the team is as lean as 80 people in the country, according to TechCrunch. LeEco denied it is leaving the country. “India is one the most strategic markets for LeEco and hence there is no exit plan. In the past one year, LeEco India has gained market recognition and the initial stage of market seeding has been successful,” TechCrunch quoted an official statement from LeEco. The company told Gadgets 360 that it is an “optimization exercise” and confirmed the exit of COOs of two verticals — Atul Jain, COO of Smart Electronics Business; and Debashish Ghosh, COO of Internet Applications. The Chinese tech conglomerate said that the company is only changing its strategy from “fast market expansion to healthy and sustainable growth.” The Chinese firm had entered the Indian market in January last year. Speculations of trimming down the Indian team had started in December last year, when reports of LeEco India exiting offline sales of smartphones, had started creeping in; and that it would cut 1,000 in-shop temporary jobs. It had entered the market in partnership with Flipkart, and reportedly was spending close to $12 million a month on marketing and advertising per month. The news comes four months after Jia Yueting, CEO, LeEco, had in a letter to Reuters accepted the firm was facing “big company disease” after having expanded at an “unprecedented rate.” In order to realize the rapid and positive growth of the Eco operation, we will cut costs to reinforce the awareness of capital control and efficient operation,” Yueting had said.