China’s top live-streaming influencer, Dong Yuhui, has left East Buy, the e-commerce arm of private tutoring giant New Oriental Education & Technology Group, marking one of the most striking exits in the sector and sending the US-listed parent’s shares down in pre-trading.
The 31-year-old Dong, a former teacher who gained fame and wealth in China’s live-streaming e-commerce sector, left his employer because of “career aspirations, commitment to his other pursuits and personal time arrangements”, Hong Kong-listed East Buy said in a filing on Thursday. Dong’s resignation is effective immediately.
As part of that departure, East Buy agreed to sell Dong’s namesake venture – called Time with Yuhui – to the influencer for 76.6 million yuan (US$10.5 million), according to a separate filing.
But East Buy chief executive Michael Yu Minhong said in a separate statement that he would make arrangements for Dong’s payment, so the influencer can walk away with his namesake venture for free.
In his post on ByteDance-owned Douyin, the Chinese sister app of TikTok, Dong said Time with Yuhui will soon start to run as an independent business.
Following the disclosure of Dong’s departure, Nasdaq-listed New Oriental saw its shares fall by up to 8 per cent in pre-trading on Thursday. East Buy said it plans to buy back up to 500 million yuan of shares over a one-year period.
Dong’s departure shows the fragile relationship between Chinese e-commerce platforms and the major influencers behind popular live-streaming shows.
While top live-streamers are credited with attracting a large audience and driving online sales, e-commerce platforms are also looking to lessen their reliance on star talent.
Cracks in Dong’s relationship with East Buy started to emerge after Sun Dongxu, the former chief executive of the e-commerce firm, backed a social media post that insinuated the influencer was hogging all the credit for his successful shows. Dong’s fans were angered by Sun’s comments. The widely-watched infighting ended with Sun getting fired for hurting the brand’s reputation.
East Buy would not have rapidly developed its business without Dong’s overnight success, Yu said in a statement on Thursday. He pointed out that the dispute with Sun created a rift in the partnership with Dong.
Formerly an English-language tutor, Dong is one of the most popular e-commerce live-streamers in China, rising to fame in 2022 for his unique style of quoting Chinese poems and delivering bilingual content as part of his sales pitch.
Dong is also known for holding discussions with well-known Chinese business executives and cultural figures in his live-streaming sessions. Last week, he conducted a well-received online conversation with Huawei Technologies’ consumer business group chairman Richard Yu Chengdong.
Dong has more than 26.4 million followers on Douyin, while his e-commerce live-streaming account Time with Yuhui has more than 21 million followers on the platform as of Thursday.
