Top livestreamer leaves East Buy to go it alone

A top livestreamer at New Oriental's e-commerce livestreaming unit will leave the company and take over ownership of an independent company and better focus on business operations.

Dong Yuhui who was made a senior partner of East Buy Holding at the end of last year will purchase the affiliate entity Time with Yuhui for 76.58 million yuan from the company, according to a stock exchange filing on Thursday.

Dong's departure was due to his own career aspirations, commitment to other pursuits and personal time arrangement, and has taken immediate effect, said the company.

Time with Yuhui was established as a wholly owned unit of East Buy at the end of 2023 with Dong being its director and general manager, allowing his personal potential to be fully unleashed with a focus on cultural and tourism-related offerings and publications.

Time with Yuhui has staged a number of livestreaming sessions at famous tourism spots in Hubei, Chongqing and Shanxi to introduce local cultural legacies and promote specialty products.

In a social media post on Thursday, Dong said the company will have to face uncertainties and challenges without support from the parent company.

"I'm grateful for (East Buy's chairman) Yu Minhong's understanding and respect for us and I'll try and do my best," he said.

East Buy said it needs to reallocate more of its resources to the development and upgrading of healthy and high-quality products, to strengthen its brand establishments and maintain a positive image and user mindset.

East Buy on the other hand will provide its self-developed information system to Time with Yuhui free of charge.

Tutor-turned-livestreamers have been in the spotlight since 2022 after New Original reinvented itself as an agricultural marketing company, promoting fresh food and groceries to online shoppers.

Controversy emerged last December over whether the entire editorial team or Dong alone should take credit for many acclaimed promotional materials and phrasing. It then further escalated to whether East Buy was giving fair recognition to Dong and giving him enough room to fully leverage his potential.

East Buy's former chief executive, Sun Dongxu, was later ousted due to internal management inadequacies.