(Yicai Global) March 8 -- Panda TV, a Chinese live-streaming platform  co-founded by Wang Sicong, the son of Chinese billionaire realty tycoon  Wang Jianlin, will lay off its entire staff due to cash flow issues,  according to its operations chief. 

Panda TV's funding gap cannot be resolved so it must let go of its personnel,  36Kr reported today, citing co-founder and COO Zhang Juyuan who was  speaking in the Shanghai-based company's social media group on WeChat.  

The service provider, run by Panda Mutual Entertainment Culture, is facing  bankruptcy and will shut down its server on March 18, Beijing Youth  Daily reported yesterday, citing another social media post. 

Shutting down the firm is a helpless but the most reasonable move, Zhang  said. The platform still has tens of millions of monthly viewers but it  is unable to pay for broadband services and the high wages of network  anchors, he added. Wang will personally pay severance packages in the  scale of one half a month's salary to the employees, according to  Chinese media reports. 

The firm has not received additional investment after its second funding  round in May 2017, which brought in CNY1 billion (USD148.7 million) and  was led by a unit of China Industrial Securities International Financial Group.  The target firm was valued at CNY5 billion at the time. The company's  plans to go public last year did not materialize, reportedly due to high  levels of debt.

Editor: Emmi Laine