The Chinese tech giant LeEco has investments in all sorts of industries, ranging from consumer electronics and automobiles to software and movie production. A couple of months ago, the Beijing-based conglomerate officially entered the US market with a plethora of products and services, and by most accounts, LeEco is bound to provide added competition in the US tech industry. However, that isn’t to say everything is peachy for the Chinese company. Earlier today, LeEco announced a revamped business strategy for 2017 which will mostly focus on sustainable growth. Namely, the company’s representatives asserted that as the global economy is expected to be extremely volatile in 2017, LeEco is looking to rethink its expansion efforts and limit them to relatively safe investments.
Following that train of thought, the Beijing-based tech giant is also seeking to downsize its less profitable ventures. In the short-term, this endeavor will result in job cuts in India, as well as other markets which the company has yet to name. Interestingly enough, LeEco admitted that India is one of its top three markets in the world, but described its Indian division as immature and not ready for sustainable operation. Furthermore, a company spokesperson recently told Gadgets 360 that layoffs in India are entirely based on LeEco’s long-term strategy. Simply speaking, the Beijing-based conglomerate sees 2017 as an opportunity to assess the profitability of its operations while it waits for the global economy to normalize. In the meantime, it’s looking to downsize most of its operations that grew too quickly, India included.
While no precise figures have been given, it’s expected that LeEco’s layoffs in India will be significant. The company’s willingness to provide outplacement assistance to fired employees seemingly corroborates this prediction. Namely, it’s unlikely LeEco would invest resources into helping former employees find new jobs if it was only planning to cut a few hundred jobs. While the company recently admitted it’s looking to stop investing in rapid growth, these job cuts are still somewhat surprising seeing how it’s been less than a year since LeEco officially entered the Indian market. In overall, it remains to be seen how severely the Chinese tech giant will downsize its operations in India and other territories, but more information should follow in early 2017.