Court Freezes 41.4% Gionee Shares After Chairman’s Gambling Debt Rumors

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After years of uptrend, the Chinese smartphone market now looks more volatile than ever. In 2017, we have seen Leeco going down after aggressive global expansion. Even the market share of few Chinese manufacturers like Coolpad is lowering from the last few years. FYI, Leeco is the largest shareholder in Coolpad. Now, another Chinese manufacturer Gionee seems to be in trouble.

A court in Dongguan, China has frozen Gionee’s 41.4% shares from January 10th, 2018 to January 9th, 2020. While the exact reason isn’t made public, it is believed to be because of the gambling debts of its chairman, Liu Li Rong in Macao. Even the 41.4% shares frozen by the court belongs to Liu Li Rong. In 2012, Liu Li Rong was ranked at 8th position in the top 10 Chinese business leaders list for 2012.

According to the report, the company has declined to comment as the case is still under the judicial system. Just like Leeco, Gionee is also said to have delayed the payments for its suppliers. According to Nikkei Asian Review, the company is mentioned facing some financial troubles lately. Unlike Leeco, Gionee sells its smartphones via offline stores. Gionee also had market presence in several Asian and African markets.

After launching the Gionee S8 smartphone at MWC 2016, the company unveiled the Gionee A1 and A1 Plus smartphones at last year’s MWC. As of now, there is no information about the company’s presence at the upcoming MWC 2018. Let’s hope it doesn’t become another LeEco in the smartphone industry. Stay tuned on Phone Radar for more details.

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