LeTV Venture A Lesson, But No Regrets: Tycoon

The chairman of Sunac China, who lost 16.5 billion yuan in a bid to rescue LeTV, said on Thursday that he has no regrets about the failed investment.

There's always give and take when doing business, said Sun Hongbin.

Sunac China has booked a loss of more than 16.5 billion yuan due to its investment in struggling Leshi Internet Information and Technology – the operator of LeTV.

Sun, a property tycoon, injected almost 14 billion yuan into Leshi last year and became its chairman to try to turn around the embattled company. He resigned from the job last month.

Speaking in Hong Kong, Sun said there's a price to pay to transform a company.

When asked by reporters if the losses reflect the Chinese phrase "a strong man sacrifices his arm", Sun retorted not just his arm, even his brain was "chopped off".

He was speaking during the annual results announcement of his own real estate firm. Sunac China saw profit more than triple to a record 11.12 billion yuan last year, despite LeTV's hefty losses.

Sun said real estate will remain his core business but he will seek to find a new growth driver as he foresees a land shortage on the mainland 10 years down the road.

He said he's still optimistic about the prospects for the cultural and entertainment business on the mainland and he's learnt a tough lesson from LeTV.

Shares of Leshi plunged to a five-week low in Shenzhen trading on Thursday.