Chinese electronics maker LeEco will have to wait until the new year to complete its $2 billion deal to buy TV maker Vizio, Recode has learned.
Chinese electronics firm LeEco won’t be able to close its Vizio purchase this year
Regulatory hurdles are slowing down the $2 billion deal.
The deal, which was supposed to close this year, has won approval from U.S. regulators, but Chinese authorities have yet to give their blessing.
“We are awaiting regulatory approval in China,” a LeEco representative said in response to an inquiry from Recode. “We are hoping for early Q1.”
LeEco has been looking to the Vizio deal to give it added credibility and retail presence in the U.S. as it aims to rapidly grow its operations. The company has been looking to make a big splash here, acquiring Yahoo’s former Santa Clara campus for $250 million and hiring several top executives.
The company’s outspoken chairman, Jia Yueting, recently acknowledged, though, that the company had been growing faster than it could handle and promised to operate in a more sustainable way.
“No company has had such an experience, a simultaneous time in ice and fire,” Yueting said in a November memo, according to Bloomberg. “We blindly sped ahead, and our cash demand ballooned. We got over-extended in our global strategy. At the same time, our capital and resources were in fact limited.”
However, U.S. officials insisted at the time that the company was continuing ahead with both the Vizio purchase as well as its efforts to bring its existing TV and smartphone lineup to the U.S.
LeEco has since expanded beyond its own website to also sell through Best Buy, Amazon and Target.com.
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
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