Baidu, Geely's EV venture faces uproar after it says needs fresh funds

BEIJING (Reuters) - The CEO of China's Ji Yue Auto was surrounded by people demanding to know how they would be paid, videos posted online on Thursday showed, a day after the EV maker said it would streamline operations to cope with fierce market competition.

The Baidu Inc and Geely joint venture said on Wednesday it would seek fresh funding and cut projects, becoming one of a number of smaller start-ups to admit to struggles amid a bruising price war in the world's largest auto market.

But in an unusual move, several videos as well as livestreams from its Shanghai headquarters were posted online, showing dozens of people, some wearing employee lanyards, surrounding CEO Xia Yiping demanding to know when they would be paid.

Ji Yue's statement on Wednesday did not mention staff payment issues but asked suppliers for their support. It also did not mention any job cuts, but said that it was looking to merge departments and positions that had duplicate functions.

Xia, whose face can be seen clearly in videos, was pictured engaging calmly with them and telling them not to be angry. He also repeatedly answered that he was seeking to solve the problems.

Reuters verified the location of video but could not verify when it was filmed or the identity of the people around Xia.

Sales people managing the livestreaming rooms belonging to Ji Yue stores in Chinese cities from Chengdu to Shenzhen also went on camera to discuss the situation with viewers, saying they would no longer receive their salaries and seeking tips on how to find new jobs.

Media representatives for Ji Yue, which local media reported has a workforce of about 5,000 people, declined to comment when asked about the scenes at the headquarters and stores. Geely, which has a 65% stake in Ji Yue, and Baidu, which owns the remaining 35% share, did not respond to requests for comment.

Calls to several of Ji Yue's stores went unanswered on Thursday.

The troubles being played out on screens in real time will likely "accelerate the demise of smaller brands being marginalized" in a market with more than 130 active EV and hybrid brands, said John Zeng, head of market forecast for China at London-based consultancy GlobalData.

Consumers would increasingly pivot toward current market leaders, he added.

Baidu and Geely founded the company as Jidu Auto in early 2021 and rebranded it as Ji Yue last year. It has two models, the Jiyue 01 EV and Jiyue 07 EV, which together as of September accumulated total sales of 9,767 units, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

(Reporting by Qiaoyi Li, Zhang Yan and Brenda Goh; additional reporting by Shanghai Newsroom and Wang Jiawei; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)