China Economic Weekly - Economic Net News: Recently, the incident of Dong Yuhui's essay writing continued to ferment, unexpectedly causing a sensation in the live broadcast room of Gaotu Jiapin, a subsidiary of Gaotu. On the evening of December 14th, Gao Tu CEO Chen Xiangdong posted on a blog that over 100000 people are online at the same time, which is a miracle. It belongs to Gao Tu Jiapin, Gao Tu, and more importantly, to you and us, dear friends. According to the anchor of Gaotu Jiapin, when the number of people in the live broadcast room was the lowest, only 8 people were online at the same time. Gaotu's stock price surged again by 29%, with a cumulative increase of 72.83% from December 11th to 14th.
On the evening of the 14th, Gaotu Jiapin posted a video stating that there are still 10 days left until Jiapin's one-year anniversary. We are grateful for the support of our families. Tonight, we have achieved three breakthroughs: the first time the number of online users has exceeded 100000, the number of fans has exceeded 1 million, and the daily transaction GMV has exceeded 10 million. The number of fans in the live broadcast room is still increasing. As of the time of publication, the number of fans in the Gaotu Jiapin live broadcast room has reached 1.18 million. In the live broadcast room, some fans left messages saying, "It's from over there (Dongfang Zhenxuan)" and "Dong Yuhui's fans are here"
Gaotu CEO Chen Xiangdong also responded to the competition issue with New Oriental in the live broadcast room. Chen Xiangdong said that he had been working at New Oriental for over 14 years and was so lucky to join during that era.
According to the Tianyancha App, Gaotu Education Technology Group Co., Ltd. was established in June 2014, with Luo Bin as the legal representative and a registered capital of 55 million RMB. Chen Xiangdong and Luo Bin hold 98.28% and 1.72% respectively. According to external investment information, the company directly holds 28 companies, of which 24 are in existence, including Beijing Gaotu Yunji Education Technology Co., Ltd., Guangzhou Xinghuo Online Computer Technology Co., Ltd., Anhui Hewenxue Education Technology Co., Ltd., etc. According to the annual report information, the number of insured persons of Gaotu Education Technology Group Co., Ltd. reached over 900 in 2022.
Among the affiliated companies of Gao Tu CEO Chen Xiangdong, 12 are in existence. In addition to Gao Tu Education Technology Group Co., Ltd. mentioned above, they also include Beijing Lexuebang Network Technology Co., Ltd. and Beijing Gao Tu Chengqi Travel Service Co., Ltd. According to previous job information, Chen Xiangdong has worked for Beijing New Oriental Wokaide International Education Travel Co., Ltd., Beijing Oriental Gexi International Education Consulting Co., Ltd., Beijing Bosi Kaiyuan Education Consulting Co., Ltd., and other companies under New Oriental.
In addition, the impact of the "essay incident" on Dongfang Zhenxuan is also continuing. Currently, Dongfang Zhenxuan has 30.47 million fans, which is 360000 less than the previous day. On December 9th, Dongfang Zhenxuan still had 31.16 million fans, and in less than 6 days, the number of fans sharply decreased by 700000. The stock price of Dongfang Zhenxuan continued to decline today, with a decline of 5.4% as of the time of publication. From December 11th to 13th, the stock price of Dongfang Zhenxuan fell by 19.16% in three trading days, and rose by 2.21% on December 14th. The market value has evaporated by HKD 7.46 billion, dropping from HKD 34.155 billion on December 10th to HKD 26.695 billion.
On the evening of the 14th, Sun Dongxu, CEO of Dongfang Zhenxuan, released an apology video, apologizing to netizens for his recent "aggressive" demeanor, placing his phone on the table, and mentioning Dong Yuhui's salary during a live broadcast, claiming to be "unprofessional" behavior. Sun Dongxu also stated that his recent statement of "rejecting fan culture" does not mean that Dongfang Zhenxuan's fans are fans of the fan circle. But this apology seems to have not been recognized by consumers.
A netizen left a message saying, "What kind of confusing operation is driving someone away and apologizing?" "Is this a short essay written by the editor?" "Not giving consumers a meeting?" "Apologizing. If it's not sincere, it's better not to apologize.".
There are rumors that Yu Minhong is facing a two choice situation between protecting CEO Sun Dongxu and anchor Dong Yuhui. Yu Minhong denies this and says, "It's not that serious." According to reports from The Paper, several partners and internal employees of Dongfang Selection have stated that they have not heard of any conflict between Dong Yuhui and the top executives of Dongfang Selection, "Lao Yu (Yu Minhong) has always said that Dong Yuhui is good, and I saw Dong Yuhui and Sun Dongxu participate in activities together before." A person close to Dongfang Selection said that Dong Yuhui's income is the highest level in the entire company, but did not specify whether it includes equity, and whether it is before or after tax.
According to Wind data, the current executives of Dongfang Zhenxuan are Yu Minhong (Chairman of the Board) with a salary of 10.6903 million yuan, Yin Qiang (Executive Director) with a salary of 5.2738 million yuan, and Sun Dongxu (Executive Director) with a salary of 18.1373 million yuan. According to current public information, Sun Dongxu is the highest paid employee selected by Dongfang Selection, with an annual salary of tens of millions.
Regarding Dong Yuhui's current situation, Dongfang Selection stated in an interview with the media that Dong Yuhui is still working for Dongfang Selection, but it is unlikely to be aired in the near future. Regarding the "essay writing" incident, Dongfang Zhenxuan stated that the company's staff are currently investigating and subsequent information will be announced through official channels. Dongfang Zhenxuan said, "The impact of this matter is still quite significant, and Teacher Dong needs some time to adjust his state. We will definitely give everyone a response in the future."