China tech crackdown: Yu Minhong, founder of the nation’s largest private education services firm, makes debut as live-streaming host
- The founder of New Oriental Education & Technology Group hosted his first live-streaming e-commerce session on ByteDance-owned short video platform Douyin
- During that session, Michael Yu Minhong reiterated his company’s plan to launch a live-streaming e-commerce platform for farm products
Yu sold products worth about 4.6 million yuan (US$721,827) during his live-streaming debut, according to data from live streaming tracking platform Huitun. Some online users, however, complained that Yu pitched products that were too expensive. For example, a bunch of cherries weighing 2.5 kilograms cost 299 yuan, more than the price of 15 apples that sell for 128 yuan, according to Huitun data.
During that same session, Yu reiterated New Oriental’s plan to launch a live-streaming e-commerce platform as part of efforts to diversify its operations. Yu last month announced plans to set up a large-scale agricultural online platform, through which he will sell farm products with the help of hundreds of employees who have been reassigned from their teaching jobs.
“Education is always our original intention,” the company’s post said.
Responding to that criticism last month, Yu suggested that the article was simply a “kind reminder” of the potential risks involved in live-streaming e-commerce, adding that “no industry is easy to do”.
The stakes are high for Yu and New Oriental, which is listed in both New York and Hong Kong, in this new initiative, following the company’s recent move to close nearly 1,500 training centres.
Still, Yu’s personal story of emerging from poverty has earned him wide admiration across the country. After gaining admission to the prestigious Peking University and graduating with an English major, Yu subsequently ditched a stable teaching job to start a one-classroom business in Beijing that grew to become a New York-listed company.
Yu has a personal net worth of US$1.1 billion as of Wednesday, according to Forbes. New Oriental’s stock, however, has plunged sharply in the past year. Its shares closed at US$2.02 on Tuesday in New York, down from a peak of US$19.60 in February last year.