From who wrote the original copy, to the behind the scenes editor speaking up, front stage anchors Dong Yuhui and Dongfang Xiaosun (CEO of Dongfang Zhenxuan, Sun Dongxu) speaking up, to rumors that Yu Minhong will face the dilemma of choosing between Dongfang Xiaosun and Dong Yuhui, the controversy surrounding Dongfang Zhenxuan continues to ferment. On December 14th, information related to Dongfang Zhenxuan and Dong Yuhui has been trending on Weibo.
Although New Oriental Chairman Yu Minhong posted a video response on social media on December 14th regarding the controversy, denying CEO Dong Yuhui's choice and stating that "it's okay, it's not that serious", the controversy has not completely come to an end yet. There has been some loss of fans in Dongfang Zhenxuan's live broadcast room, and the stock price has also experienced a certain decline. On this side, there is a struggle between sandpipers and clams, while on the other side, there is a profit for fishermen. In the Gaotu live broadcast room, Gaotu Jiapin and Xueersi live broadcast room, Xueyoupin are attracting fans who have been transferred by Dongfang Zhenxuan.
The beginning and end of public opinion
On December 10th, the last day of the trip to Jilin, Dong Yuhui was unable to appear in the live broadcast room as originally planned. On December 13th, Dong Yuhui released a lengthy article in response to the issue of "essay writing".
He said that he personally wrote a part of the "essay" copywriting for provincial-level special sessions, such as in Xi'an and Inner Mongolia; Another part is that he provides ideas and suggestions to the editor. After recording, the editor creates and, after discussion and modification by both parties, it is finally completed. At the same time, some editors create according to their own ideas, and if Dong Yuhui is satisfied, he will make very little or no changes.
Regarding the "essay" of Jilin Field, Dong Yuhui said that the editor's approach was different from his initial one, but it was very good, so there was basically not much revision.
On December 10th, the East Selection Jilin Special Session concluded. According to third-party data statistics, Dongfang Zhenxuan's three-day sales reached a historic high of 276 million yuan. It is worth noting that on December 5th, Dong Yuhui read a few hundred word essay in the warm-up video of Dongfang Zhenxuan's trip to Jilin, receiving 64000 likes, far exceeding the average likes of other short videos on Dongfang Zhenxuan's account.
Before the official opening of this Jilin special session, Dong Yuhui's essay caused a sensation multiple times and also sparked discussions about who should write the essay in the live broadcast room.
The editor of Dongfang Zhenxuan replied on the official account that the copywriting was not completed by Dong Yuhui himself, and there was support from the copywriting team behind it, which caused dissatisfaction among Dong Yuhui's fans. Some fans have mentioned that Yu Minhong has repeatedly stated that Dong Yuhui is the creator of the "essay". Dong Yuhui himself mentioned the issue of "essay writing" during the live broadcast, saying, "Our self proclaimed editor who knows the business very well replied in the comment section."
After Dong Yuhui replied, the editor of Dongfang Zhenxuan further responded on the official account, stating that he was "very frustrated and couldn't bear it", stating that he did not have a "Hu reply", and listed Dong Yuhui's participation in the copywriting in Jilin, Shanxi, Sichuan, Gansu and other regions.
On the evening of December 12th, Sun Dongxu spent another 10 minutes in the live broadcast room responding to the incident. Firstly, he criticized the editor's team for having emotional work and inappropriate communication methods. Secondly, he explained that Dong Yuhui was not broadcasted on the 10th due to emotional influence. Thirdly, he responded to fans questioning the company's salary and distribution to the anchor, stating that Dong Yuhui's annual salary is more than tens of millions of yuan reported online.
The trend of Sun Dongxu hitting 50 big boards each did not calm the emotions of netizens, and public opinion continued to ferment. Zhang Yi, Chief Analyst of iMedia Consulting, stated in an interview with a reporter from Huaxia Times that with Yu Minhong's response, the public opinion of Dongfang Zhenxuan has become even more popular. This incident can be interpreted as "infighting" and also exposes the internal problems of profit distribution and management within Dongfang Zhenxuan. This situation is also more common in the live streaming e-commerce field, and the company relies too much on a single major anchor, such as Taobao, Weiya, Li Jiaqi, and so on.
"Of course, there are also solutions to the above-mentioned problems, which can be optimized from the management system and a complete scientific mechanism can be established to address such problems. At the same time, technology can also empower virtual anchors to promote products." Zhang Yi believes.
Fan loss and stock price volatility
This public opinion has caused a certain degree of decline in both Dongfang Zhenxuan's stock price and fan base.
As of 20:00 on December 14th, the number of fans in Dongfang Zhenxuan's live broadcast room was 30.714 million. According to data from Cicada Mama, the number of fans on December 9th was 31.159 million, which means that within 5 days, Dongfang Zhenxuan's live broadcast room lost 445000 fans. In terms of stock price, Dongfang Zhenxuan's stock price began to decline on December 11th, and on December 13th, it further declined by 12.96%. On December 14th, its stock price rose slightly by 2.21%, which is four trading days, and its stock price fell by 17.38%.
Amidst the uproar of the farce, Yu Minhong came out on December 14th as a "mediator" to calm the situation. On the evening of the 14th, Sun Dongxu also released an apology video. However, the public opinion triggered by the "editor" once again brought the internal profit distribution and management loopholes of Dongfang Zhenxuan to the forefront.
Since Dong Yuhui became popular, the issue of his whereabouts has been widely discussed. After this year's Spring Festival, rumors of Dong Yuhui leaving Dongfang Zhenxuan echoed again as he did not appear in the live broadcast room every day. This rumor gradually faded after Dong Yuhui reappeared in the Tiktok live broadcast room on February 16.
While the market speculates that Dong Yuhui will be leaving, his salary and benefits have also been highly regarded. After all, at present, the number of fans of Crazy Young Brother Yang in Tiktok's live broadcast room will exceed 100 million in 2022. At the same time, the news of "one hundred million people buying a building" has triggered heated debate among netizens.
However, Dong Yuhui is satisfied with his treatment at Dongfang Zhenxuan. He responded to the issue of treatment in a live broadcast in February this year, "I think the salary I received was very high, and it is at the executive level within the group." At the same time, Dong Yuhui also revealed that the company has issued shares to him, "more than one share, quite a lot.".
According to the latest public media reports, Dong Yuhui's income consists of an annual salary plus options, with a real annual salary of around a few million after tax. However, the options have not yet been issued, and it is expected that the first batch of options will be lifted in April next year.
However, the reporter noticed in multiple WeChat groups that many netizens are dissatisfied with the salary of several million yuan, believing that their contribution to Dongfang Zhenxuan does not match the current salary.
The most serious consequence of this controversy is that Yu Minhong faces the dilemma of choosing between Dongfang Xiaosun and Dong Yuhui to stay or leave. Yu Minhong gave a negative answer to this rumor in his video reply, saying, "It's okay, it's not that serious.". The reporter interviewed Dongfang Zhenxuan about whether to face the issue of choosing between two options. Dongfang Zhenxuan officials only sent the video content of Yu Minhong to the reporter and did not provide any other response.
However, Dong Yuhui is currently off the air. He has changed the Tiktok signature and the IP address is displayed as Shaanxi. On December 14th, in the live broadcast preview of the brand selection day from December 15th to 17th released by Dongfang Zhenxuan, Dong Yuhui's figure was not seen, while anchors such as Dongfang Xiaosun, Mingming, Dundun, and YOYO were listed.
Zhang Yi said, "From the current situation, it is difficult for Dongfang Zhenxuan to choose between two options in the short term. On the one hand, there is a corresponding contract period, and on the other hand, there are also some interests bound. However, in the long run, if this incident is not properly resolved, it will also 'bury mines' for future events to repeat."
Zhang Yi also emphasized that the current core issue is still the uneven distribution of benefits, not the problem between Dong Yuhui and Dongfang Xiaosun, Dong Yuhui and Dongfang Zhenxuan, or the editor and Dong Yuhui. These people are former teachers of New Oriental. However, after Dongfang Zhenxuan became popular, some people paid high salaries, some cashed out and profited, while the editor's salary was at the level of white-collar workers. From a human perspective, this is difficult to balance psychologically.
Gaotu Xueersi "Picks up Leaks"
A fire broke out in the backyard on this side, and there was a profit for the fishermen. As fans flowed out of Dongfang Zhenxuan's live broadcast room, Gaotu Jiapin, a subsidiary of Gaotu, and Xueersi's Xueyoupin, a subsidiary of Xueersi, were flooded in by fans who had withdrawn from Dongfang Zhenxuan.
On the evening of December 11th, the live broadcast room of Gaotu Jiapin was flooded by Dong Yuhui's "mother-in-law" (referred to by Dong Yuhui's fans), and many netizens with orange "selection team" signs on their heads rushed into the Gaotu live broadcast room, shouting "You should catch the extraordinary wealth and honor sent by Dongfang Zhenxuan.".
The Gaotu Jiapin live broadcast room, which has at least 8 viewers at the same time, has also caught up with this wave of "breaking the sky and wealth". At the same time, the number of online viewers continues to rise, reaching 100000 at one point on the evening of December 14th; Previously, the number of fans, which had been maintained at 320000 for a long time, continued to rise and broke through the 1 million mark on the evening of December 14th.
At the same time, Gaotu's stock price has continued to soar. After a surge of 17.41% on December 12th Eastern Time, it rose 7.27% and 29% on December 13th and 14th, respectively.
In order to catch up with the "wave of wealth and prosperity", Gao Tu CEO Chen Xiangdong has appeared multiple times in the live broadcast room to reply to hot issues and promote products. Faced with whether to poach Dong Yuhui, he cleverly replied, "Dong Yuhui is not for 'poaching', but for love." "Any talent who is willing to come to Gao Tu is certainly very welcome, and more importantly, we Gao Tu Jiapin can also do ourselves well and truly attract more outstanding talents."
Since July 2021, Gaotu has conducted multi-directional business transformation explorations. In addition to continuing to deepen its focus on adult online education in the education field, multiple business teams within Gaotu have conducted in-depth explorations in the field of e-commerce live streaming. After exploration and integration, Beijing Gaotu Jiapin Technology Co., Ltd. was officially established on November 16, 2022, and officially launched the "Gaotu Jiapin" live broadcast room on December 24. As a former New Oriental teacher, Chen Xiangdong has also started his next live broadcast. On January 6, Chen Xiangdong announced that he was officially stationed in Tiktok. He stated that he personally served as the CEO of the independent business of Gaotu Live E-commerce, calling himself "Manager Chen".
In addition to Gaotu Jiapin, the fan base of Xueersi's live streaming room Youpin is also on the rise. At the beginning of the evening of December 11th, a large number of experts and fans rushed in, inspiring the influencers Orange and Lao Pi to seize the "extraordinary wealth" and seize this sudden wave of traffic. With the increase in the number of people in the live broadcast room, more and more fans with "Oriental Selection" signs are coming to the live broadcast room and helping to shout "Shangren Shangren" and "Po Qian Po Po Qian" in the comment section
Under the constant call of "Shangbang Xin, Shangbang Xin, Shangbang Xin", Zhang Bangxin, the founder of TAL Education, also visited the live broadcast room of Youpin in the basement on December 14th, but has not yet left the country. On the same day, Ma Jiangwei, Vice President of TAL Education, also appeared in the live broadcast room. On the evening of December 14th, the number of fans reached 297000, and the highest online number of Scientist Youpin Live exceeded the 10000 mark.
According to the reporter's understanding, in late August 2022, Xueersi launched a full category live broadcast room called Xueyoupin and began its first live broadcast, led by Ma Jiangwei. But this business has been lukewarm for a long time, and with the hot sales of smart hardware, TAL has also adjusted its business focus.
However, in response to the unexpected "leak detection" incident, TAL News seems to have maintained a consistently low-key style. A spokesperson for TAL News told a reporter from Huaxia Times, "Currently, there is no plan to purchase traffic. We still hope to retain old users and attract new users through 'premium products', maintain respect and awe for traffic, and do our best to leverage larger levels of traffic."
Regarding the current positioning of live streaming e-commerce in the company, the above-mentioned personnel from TAL said, "Exploring the e-commerce field has always been a very important part of TAL's development, which is also why Xueyoupin is maintaining exploration, optimization, and iteration. Through knowledge dissemination, it helps users discover, choose, and purchase products."