Todd Pendleton, a high-profile former Samsung marketing executive who joined Chinese consumer electronics firm LeEco in the first quarter of last year, has quit the company, The Information has learned.

Mr. Pendleton was the highest-profile hire made by LeEco as part of an aggressive recruiting push in the San Francisco Bay Area last year. The company, which has been trying to become a global consumer electronics brand, says it hired around 500 people. The company paid far above the market rate for new hires, said people who were approached. Mr. Pendleton did some of that recruiting himself.