LeEco, despite its founder Jia Yueting fleeing to the US for eight years, consistently finds ways to return to the public eye. On October 13, the company issued a strongly-worded open letter accusing a state-owned enterprise, Panda Electronics, of refusing to pay a compensation amount of 14.95 million.
The open letter details the background of their collaboration. It started six years ago when LeEco, adjusting its television business, sought a reliable manufacturer and chose Panda Electronics, backed by the China Electronics Corporation. Given LeEco’s tarnished credit rating, they used an uncommon “prepayment plus full payment on delivery” model for an order of 400,000 televisions worth nearly 450 million RMB between 2019 and 2022.
However, less than a year after launch, the televisions exhibited significant defects, with a failure rate nearing 20%, far above the industry standard of less than 2%. After extensive negotiations in October 2021, Panda Electronics acknowledged the quality issues and tentatively agreed to a compensation scheme, yet they later sued the upstream screen manufacturers and failed to pay LeEco the resulting service costs, leaving LeEco to cover over 14 million in warranty expenses.
The court ruled Panda Electronics owed LeEco 13.57 million after inspecting the claims. Despite both parties appealing, the original ruling was upheld in June of the following year.
Just four days before the final ruling, Panda Electronics changed its name to “Nanjing Jingye Appliances Co., Ltd.,” attempting to shed the state-owned brand identity. LeEco was forced to sue the new entity along with its Dongguan branch again, claiming new damages from 1,445 televisions, totaling nearly 600,000 yuan.
In June 2025, further court rulings confirmed LeEco’s claims, obligating Nanjing Jingye to pay 700,000 as compensation, bringing total liabilities to 14.95 million.
Despite the rulings, Nanjing Jingye has yet to pay, leading to a bankruptcy petition in late August by Dongguan Zhongdian Panda Technology Development Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of the same parent company. This situation raised suspicions as one subsidiary initiated bankruptcy proceedings against another, creating confusion for LeEco.
LeEco posed three questions regarding Panda Electronics' registration capital and its obligations to protect state assets during bankruptcy. They stress that any shortfall in capital funding must be accounted for by all creditors and questioned the legitimacy and fairness of transactions between Nanjing Jingye and the publicly listed Panda Electronics under common ownership.
In closing, LeEco’s open letter emphasized the importance of regulations and risk management in business, a notable assertion coming from a company that has faced significant challenges. As of now, no public response has been made from Nanjing Jingye regarding this issue, but LeEco is committed to monitoring the bankruptcy process.