LeTV to aim for 23b yuan income in 2015

Chinese online video content provider Leshi Internet Information & Technology Corp (LeTV) unveiled its total revenue target for 2015 on Sunday.

"The total revenue of LeTV rose to near 10 billion yuan ($1.6 billion) in 2014 and the company's revenue target for 2015 has been set as 23 billion yuan," Jia Yueting, CEO of LeTV, said in an internal e-mail sent to his employees on Sunday.

Sales of LeTV's Super TV is expected to reach 3 million to 4 million sets in 2015 from last year's annual sales target of 1.5 million sets, Jia said.

LeTV will launch a partnership plan in the first half of 2015, under which every employee will acquire a stake in the company, Jia said.

The partnership plan will help motivate its employees to complete work objectives but the company's increased revenue target will be challenging to achieve, Xu Hao, an industry analyst with Beijing-based market research firm iResearch, told the Global Times on Sunday.

Revenue from sales of its Super TV has become a major income source for LeTV but a license dispute may hinder the company achieving its sales target for its Super TV this year, Jia Jinghua, a Shandong-based independent IT analyst, told the Global Times on Sunday.

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

"Even if LeTV achieves its revenue goal for Super TV sales, this would only result in a small profit rate for the company of around 5 percent," Jia Jinghua said.

Besides LeTV's Super TV, the company should find a new growth point, according to Xu.

LeTV's CEO said in the internal e-mail that the company will develop a new electric car featuring Internet technologies.

In addition, Jia Yueting said that LeTV will introduce a new smart device in the near future with a cheap price but powerful functions, which analysts and experts said is a hint that LeTV will launch a smartphone.