Smartphone maker Gionee in financial trouble after founder gambling loss

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Smartphone maker Gionee is in financial trouble. The manufacturer is no longer one of the largest telephone manufacturers in China. The problems have gotten worse, because the founder and director has gambled in a casino with money from the company.

The founder and director’s loss in the casino amounted to more than a billion Chinese yuan, currently about 126 million euros, South China Morning Post reports based on an interview with Securities Times not published online. He claims to have borrowed money from the company to gamble because he mixed up business assets and private money. The gambling loss is a small part of Gionee’s total debt, which is more than 17 billion yuan.

Gionee is no longer one of the largest smartphone makers in China, now that bigger brands like Huawei, Oppo and Xiaomi have taken over that market and have a combined market share of almost 80 percent. In the meantime, suppliers would no longer be paid and many people at Gionee have been fired. Because suppliers do not get paid, they no longer supply components for smartphones. Gionee still exists.

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