LeEco said to miss US sales forecasts, plan more job cuts

New York - Chinese technology conglomerate LeEco Inc is sharply scaling back its US ambitions.

The company - which oversees a range of businesses in China, from streaming video to smartphones to electric cars - missed its projections for 2016 sales in the US by a wide margin and is planning to cut more than a third of its US workforce, a person familiar with the matter said.

Billionaire Jia Yueting is narrowing his vision for LeEco's global expansion amid lackluster sales and the prospect of a cash crunch. The company entered the North American market in October with a splashy event in San Francisco, where it showed off an array of products, including ultra high-definition televisions, phones, virtual reality goggles and electric bikes. Yet LeEco generated US revenue of less than $15 million last year after that October debut, compared with an original goal of $100 million, according to the person.