LeTV stock price rises after execs make purchase of more shares

Beijing-based LeTV Information Technology Co saw a 6.5 percent share price rise on Thursday after the company announced that a group of its executives had increased their stakes in the company.

Four executives purchased a total of 79,200 shares of LeTV on Wednesday, according to a statement the company filed on Shenzhen Stock Exchange Thursday.

Moreover, another eight executives and the four who carried out their stakes purchase Wednesday will also increase their stakes in the next six months, with a total volume which may range from 210,000 shares to 510,000 shares, the statement said.

The 12 executives include several deputy general managers and board members but Jia Yueting, the company's president and CEO, is not on the stakes purchase list.

Jia has a 44.42 percent stake in LeTV but he has offered up about 34.31 percent of his stake as collateral for financing, the Xinhua News Agency reported Wednesday.

Media reports said that out of all listed companies in 2014, LeTV has the largest number of executives who increased their stakes at the same time.

The company's share price closed at 32.11 yuan ($5.18) on Thursday, marking the second share price rise since December 17.

The executives increased their stakes in LeTV due to their confidence in its future development, according to the statement.

Online video company LeTV was confronted with a tough situation in this year due to the government's regulation on set-top boxes.

In July, the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television criticized LeTV for violating regulations and the media regulator notified several licensed content distributors to stop cooperating with LeTV.

Following this, LeTV said in a statement in July that it was making rectifications with its partner China Central Television and admitted that its Internet-based set-top boxes had violated regulations.

As its core online video business is facing some challenges, LeTV is trying to tap other sectors.

On December 9, LeTV announced that it will develop a new electric car featuring Internet technologies, a move analysts said is intended to adjust its business model amid intense competition in the online video sector.