(Yicai Global) Dec. 10 -- Nine months after withdrawing its application to go public in Shanghai, Chinese flexible display maker Royole Technologies is strapped for cash and has not paid its workers for months, according to one employee.

The employee left a message for the party secretary of Shenzhen’s Longgang district on the question and answer section of People’s Daily Online, saying that he had not been paid for three months and that some security and cleaning staff had been paid for as much as half a year.

The staffer added that Shenzhen-based Royole is raising funds so that salaries can be paid at the end of this month or in January, citing comments founder Liu Zihong made at a meeting with employees on Nov. 3.

Along with a we-media article titled ‘Elon Musk looks back at the days when he was on the verge of bankruptcy and crying all night’ that Liu posted on his WeChat Moments yesterday, he said the only thing he can do in the darkest hours of his life is to hold on till the end and never give up.

The firm’s foldable phones are not selling well. None of China’s major handset makers is working with Royole on foldable screens, so it must focus on developing other products to satisfy their demand, said Ye Sufeng, wealth management director at Holly Capital Management.

Royole gained a high position in the market in the early days of foldable screens, but lost its advantage and recorded poor performances in the to-business and to-consumer segments as more competitors entered the market, Ye added.

Founded in 2012, Royole specializes in making flexible electronic products such as mobile phones and smart notebooks and provides clients with flexible electronic solutions. From 2017 to the first half of last year, it had lost over CNY3.2 billion (USD502.5 million) on operating revenue of CNY500 million (USD78.6 million).

Royole was expected to list on Shanghai’s Nasdaq-like Star Market to raise about CNY14.4 billion (USD2.3 billion), but scrapped the initial public offering plan in February.

Editor: Futura Costaglione