Due to the "essay controversy", the stock of Dongfang Zhenxuan (1797. HK) has suffered a disastrous decline in the past two days, with a cumulative decline of over 25% in the past four trading days.
But some people gave a thumbs up to one of the main characters in the incident, Dong Yuhui, which caused the company to become popular and the stock price to skyrocket. This company is GOTU. us, also engaged in the online education and training industry.
On the evening of December 14th, Mr. Chen Xiangdong, the founder, chairman, and CEO of Gaotu, posted on Weibo, saying, "100000+simultaneous online, miracle, belongs to Gaotu Jiapin, belongs to Gaotu, belongs to you, belongs to us, dear friend."
On the evening of the 14th, the number of fans in the Gaotu live broadcast room exceeded 1 million. However, in reality, since last year, Gaotu has been learning from its peers to transform into live streaming sales, and the results have not been ideal, which cannot be compared to Dongfang Zhenxuan. Previously, when the number of people in its live broadcast room was the lowest, only 8 people were online simultaneously.
Data shows that from December 10th to 12th, the daily sales of live streaming products on Gaotu increased by 100 times compared to the daily sales within 30 days. On the 14th, the stock price of Gaotu, which was listed in the United States, surged again by 29.27%, with a cumulative increase of 72.83% from December 11th to 14th. As of the closing of the US stock market on December 14th, its market value was $1.243 billion, about one tenth of New Oriental.
Dongfang Zhenxuan is deeply embroiled in a whirlpool of public opinion, with its stock price falling repeatedly
Recently, a fire broke out in the backyard of Dongfang Zhenxuan. "The origin of the" essay controversy "was a comment posted by the editor of Dongfang Zhenxuan on December 6th under the video" Journey to Jilin ", stating that" every essay production is made by the anchor in front of the camera, and behind it are the colleagues of the copywriting, shooting, and editing teams. Through everyone's cooperation, we have produced a series of specialized essay pieces. "
In the eyes of some netizens, this information is a backstabbing of the core anchor Dong Yuhui. Subsequently, this matter continued to ferment, and there were rumors of "Dong Yuhui, CEO of Dongfang Zhenxuan, choosing one out of two". In response, Yu Minhong said, "It's okay, it's not that serious." On December 14th, Dongfang Zhenxuan released a live broadcast promotional poster from the 15th to the 17th of Brand Selection Day, but Dong Yuhui was not among them.
Affected by this storm, Dongfang Zhenxuan, which is listed on the Hong Kong stock market, plummeted 12.96% on Wednesday and fell more than 6% by the time the reporter published the article on Friday. At the same time as the company's share price plummeted, Dongfang Zhenxuan Tiktok also lost its fans rapidly. According to media reports, it lost 400000 fans in five days.
On December 15th, Dongfang Zhenxuan responded to external doubts for the first time. Dongfang Zhenxuan stated that the recent outbreak of public opinion has exposed the conflict between its internet celebrity model and product route. Adhering to the product line is undoubtedly the best choice for Dongfang Zhenxuan to respond to doubts.
Gaotu's "pie falls from the sky", taking advantage of this wave of traffic
According to the data, Gaotu Group is a B2C online education institution founded by Chen Xiangdong, formerly known as "Learn from Who". The team members mainly come from education and training institutions such as New Oriental and internet companies such as Baidu. On June 6, 2019, Xuexue was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in the United States. Our main business includes non course training, adult education services, etc. In April 2021, it was officially renamed as Gaotu Group.
Gaotu CEO Chen Xiangdong has a deep connection with New Oriental and was once the CEO of New Oriental. After leaving New Oriental, he founded Gaotu and its market value surpassed that of New Oriental before the "double reduction".
Recently, Chen Xiangdong responded to the competition issue with New Oriental in the live broadcast room, stating that he had worked at New Oriental for over 14 years and was so lucky to join in that era.
During the live broadcast, a netizen asked, will Gaotu poach Dong Yuhui? Chen Xiangdong responded by saying, "Dong Yuhui is not for digging, but for love." Chen Xiangdong also mentioned Dong Yuhui again on Weibo, saying that the phrase he blurted out was indeed his own state of mind. It's really, really not easy for a hero who has been recognized by so many fans to come out, even though he comes from a teacher's background, in this era.
On December 15th, Chen Xiangdong responded again in an interview with the media that Gaotu Jiapin always welcomes excellent and outstanding talents in the industry to join Gaotu, provide better services for everyone, and create greater social value together, "One of the core competitiveness of Gaotu Group is the strict selection of excellent lecturers. 'Famous teachers lead to Gaotu'. Gaotu Jiapin is a live streaming e-commerce platform under Gaotu Group. Similarly, for the anchor team of Gaotu Jiapin, we will also strictly select anchors, actively cultivate excellent anchors, and look forward to the emergence of outstanding talents."
According to reports, Gaotu Jiapin launched a live broadcast on December 24, 2022, which belongs to a full category lifestyle live broadcast room. The style of the anchor and the layout of the live broadcast room are highly similar to those of Dongfang Zhenxuan, and the anchor mainly comes from Teacher Gao Tu. The background of the Gaotu Jiapin live broadcast room is also Chen Xiangdong's personal image, which is highly similar to Yu Minhong.
Chen Xiangdong intends to lead the live broadcast business of Gaotu e-commerce in person. He entered Tiktok in January 2023, and the introduction office marked "CEO of Gaotu Jiapin". The video content mainly focuses on topics such as growth, motivation, workplace, and entrepreneurship, with a similar personality and content style to Yu Minhong.
But since its launch, the live broadcast of Gaotu Jiapin has been mediocre, with only eight people watching online when the number of viewers was low. It was not until the crisis of "essay writing" by Dongfang Zhenxuan broke out that this "extraordinary wealth" flowed towards the high-quality products of Gaotu.
It's not that easy for Gaotu to seize this opportunity and turn around
According to the Tianyancha App, Gaotu Education Technology Group Co., Ltd. was established in June 2014, with legal representative Luo Bin and registered capital of RMB 55 million. Chen Xiangdong and Luo Bin hold 98.28% and 1.72% of the shares 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.
Interestingly, Tianyancha's information also showed that in November, Gaotu Education had three pieces of information listed as executors by the Haidian District People's Court in Beijing.
Previously, industry insiders pointed out that Gaotu from New Oriental, whether in the education and training industry or transitioning to live streaming e-commerce, is "imitating" New Oriental, and even Chen Xiangdong's personal style is infinitely approaching Yu Minhong.
"When the sky shattering wealth comes, are we prepared? Can we handle it? Can we deserve it?" Chen Xiangdong once repeatedly asked in the live broadcast room. This is indeed the "soul test" that he and Gao Tu's live streaming team are currently facing.
Can Gaotu become the next live streaming e-commerce platform? I'm afraid there's still a long way to go.
According to the latest financial report of Gaotu Group, in the third quarter of 2023, Gaotu's revenue was 789 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 30.2%; The net profit loss was 57.66 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 6%. These incomes mainly come from education and training, and the live streaming data of the one-year trial has not been disclosed separately, but based on previous performance, it is not ideal.
"Gaotu's live streaming sales can only be considered a test of the water, even a week ago, there was no sign of it becoming popular." Industry insiders analyzed that, besides, there is a lack of top anchors like Dong Yuhui with huge influence and sales capabilities to sit down, and everything is just empty talk.
The live streaming track is now entering the second half, with crowded tracks and existing businesses being divided up. It is not easy for new forces to enter. It remains to be seen whether Gaotu can take advantage of the popularity of Dongfang Selection and Dong Yuhui to find the right direction and establish a firm foothold in the live streaming e-commerce arena, and reverse Gaotu Group's loss making performance.