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Dong Yuhui's solo career is the result of a series of butterfly effects. Maybe Dong Yuhui didn't want to leave before, but now he has to leave; maybe Yu Minhong never thought about breaking up with Dong Yuhui before, but now he can no longer "walk with Hui".

Author | Guo Caomei

Editor | Yan Fei

Title image｜Visual China

For a long time, the market's speculation and discussion about whether Dong Yuhui would stay or go was like a sword of Damocles hanging over Dongfang Selection. Now, Yu Minhong has personally pushed it, bringing the story of Dong Yuhui and Dongfang Selection to an end.

On July 25, Dongfang Zhenxuan announced that Dong Yuhui had resigned and paid 76.5855 million to acquire Yuhui Tongxing. The reason for his resignation was simply stated as "career ambition, investment in other careers and personal time arrangements."

Oriental Selection issued an announcement on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

After the announcement, New Oriental founder and Oriental Selection CEO Yu Minhong and Dong Yuhui issued open letters respectively, expressing their recognition and gratitude to each other. Onlookers were either blessed or angry, but not surprised - some things will eventually come, and some even speculated that Dong Yuhui had submitted his resignation letter half a year ago.

In the past few years, Dongfang Zhenxuan and Dong Yuhui have frequently appeared on Weibo's hot searches. From the "small essay incident" to Dong Yuhui clearing his Weibo account, to Dongfang Zhenxuan being questioned for its chaotic management, the disputes between the two parties have erupted, died down, and erupted again every now and then. So much so that voices have begun to appear on social networks asking, "When will Dong Yuhui leave Dongfang Zhenxuan?"

Dong Yuhui's departure today is undoubtedly a long-prepared "breakup", which is both respectable in the business world and slightly romantic in the literati world. Just four days ago, Dong Yuhui thanked Yu Minhong in the live broadcast room: "He is a teacher in my life who is very experienced and willing to share with the younger generation. I cherish this feeling and I want to thank him."

The "guide" Dong Yuhui mentioned finally chose to give Dong Yuhui freedom. He not only gave Dong Yuhui the "Yuhui Xingxing" fund, but also gave him about 140 million yuan.

(Photo/ Live broadcast room of Walking with Hui)

To maintain dignity,

Resignation was brewing for months

The unbinding of top anchors from institutions and platforms is often accompanied by a long period of tug-of-war and confrontation, such as Wei Nian and Li Ziqi, Kuaishou and Simba. But looking at Dong Yuhui and Dongfang Zhenxuan, the breakup between the two parties can be described as "decent".

After the announcement of Dong Yuhui's solo career was made, Yu Minhong immediately posted an open letter on his personal social account, in which two key points were mentioned: first, all the income and profits of Yuhui Tongxing since its establishment were left to Dong Yuhui and Yuhui Tongxing; second, the money for Dong Yuhui to purchase Yuhui Tongxing was arranged by Yu Minhong, and "the company was a gift to Yuhui."

(Photo/TikTok screenshot)

According to the announcement of Oriental Selection, from December 22, 2023 to June 30, 2024, Yuhui Xingxing achieved a net profit of 140 million yuan, plus the redemption fee of 76.58 million yuan, which means that Dong Yuhui received at least a "resignation gift package" of more than 200 million yuan.

According to the announcement of Oriental Selection, Yuhui Xingxing was established on December 22, 2023, and its net profit was RMB 141.414 million in more than six months until June 30, 2024.

Later, this "super worker" belatedly appeared in the comment section of Yu Minhong's account, giving his former boss enough face. Dong Yuhui first thanked Yu Minhong for his help in purchasing equity and for his free support in operating the system, and then published a heartfelt thank-you letter, with words full of "thank you boss, thank you company".

(Photo/TikTok screenshot)

There was no familiar confrontation, and the ending seemed to be a happy family reunion. But did the two sides really separate so easily? Did Dong Yuhui's shares in Dongfang Zhenxuan, which were rumored to exist online, really exist? What kind of game was played in the middle? At least from the clues in recent months, the "decent" breakup between the two sides actually took months of preparation and tug-of-war.

On July 21, Dong Yuhui's team evacuated the Beijing New Oriental building where Dongfangzhenxuan was located and moved into a new 2,100-square-meter work area in the Internet Finance Center to start broadcasting. Judging from media reports at the time, the two sides were like a pair of young lovers who were reluctant to part - the new venue for "Traveling with Hui" was found and decorated by the New Oriental Asset Management Team, and the reason for the relocation was simply "not enough workstations."

But now it seems that moving out of the New Oriental building is only the first step for Dong Yuhui's team to be "physically independent". The "mothers-in-law" (Dong Yuhui's fan group) who went to the new work area to send flowers that day may be looking forward to another possibility. An interesting detail is that a "mother-in-law" told New Weekly that since June this year, the anchors who traveled with Hui have frequently called Dong Yuhui "boss". Not only that, on social media, several employees who traveled with Hui also removed the word "Oriental" from the prefix, formally completing the cut with New Oriental.

Dong Yuhui participated in the "Walking with Hui" event. (Photo/Visual China)

"The idea of ​​splitting up the two parties must have come earlier than the outside world imagined." A brand director who has cooperated with Oriental Selection revealed to New Weekly that he had been in contact with an insider of Oriental Selection in March. The other party said at the time that it had tried to "operate separately" from Yihui Tongxing, using a completely different department structure and personnel.

Prior to this, Tongxing Yuhui was still 100% controlled by Dongfang Zhenxuan, and the operation and product selection team and Dongfang Zhenxuan were public departments for a period of time, including the free information system mentioned in Dong Yuhui's announcement. "In our opinion, Tongxing Yuhui was more like a sub-project incubated internally by Dongfang Zhenxuan." The brand said, but it was not until half a month ago that the product selection staff who connected with Tongxing Yuhui suddenly resigned, making them realize that the two parties "may have been completely untied."

Dong Yuhui's resignation is not unexpected

The end of Dong Yuhui and Yu Minhong's separation is certain, but both parties are obviously unwilling to reveal the reason for their resignation. When talking about the reason why Dong Yuhui left, Yu Minhong simply attributed the blame to an invisible and intangible third party - public opinion.

"There has been no obstacle in the communication with Dong Yuhui so far, but the complicated public opinion disputes, coupled with the guidance and rumors of a few forces with ulterior motives, directly led to the rift between Dongfang Selection and Yuhui's colleagues," said Yu Minhong. In his thank-you letter, Dong Yuhui simply explained the reason for his resignation as "actual situation and development plan."

Yu Minhong and Dong Yuhui attended an event together in the past. (Photo/Visual China)

Even though both sides left room for each other, viewers who are familiar with Oriental Selection know that the ending of the story was determined after the "small essay" incident broke out last year.

The incident started when Dongfangzhenxuan pinned a comment on a video asking "Who wrote the promotional copy?", saying that most of Dong Yuhui's classic essays were written by the copywriting team. This comment triggered a strong protest from Dong Yuhui's fans, and as Dong Yuhui himself responded, the incident gradually turned into a "palace drama of Dongfangzhenxuan".

"Dong Yuhui's behavior in the Xiaowenzhu incident exceeded the professional boundary of a 'selling goods blogger'," said Zhang Shule, an Internet industry analyst, in an interview with New Weekly. Yu Minhong did not take strong measures, and his approach was even a bit "difficult", which buried hidden dangers for the management of Dongfangxuan. If more anchors follow Dong Yuhui's approach in the future, it will undoubtedly increase the difficulty of management and the risk of public opinion.

Dong Yuhui in the live broadcast room of Oriental Selection. (Photo/Visual China)

Since May, the "chaos" within Eastern Selection has been obvious.

On June 22, Mingming Gang, a host of Dongfang Zhenxuan, caused controversy in a live broadcast of Guizhou due to his wording of "broken mountains and rivers" in Guizhou's terrain. Guizhou Tourism even deleted the short video related to Dongfang Zhenxuan. On June 26, Dun Dun, another popular host of Dongfang Zhenxuan, publicly mentioned during a live broadcast that Dongfang Zhenxuan did not discuss or communicate with the host before opening a new account; when Internet public opinion appeared, the company's public relations department did not take any action. This can't help but remind people that Dong Yuhui had been questioned for "eating with a bowl in hand and cursing when the bowl was put down" after he mentioned in a variety show that he "disliked being called an Internet celebrity".

Anchor @新东方石明 responded to the statement "the mountains and rivers are broken" during the live broadcast. (Photo/新东方石明)

Thanks to Dong Yuhui's witty remarks, Dongfang Zhenxuan once became popular, and now several anchors have almost perfectly demonstrated the saying that trouble comes from the mouth. According to Chanmama data, the total number of fans of Dongfang Zhenxuan's live broadcast room has reached 300,000 in the past 30 days, and in the just-concluded 618 promotion, Dongfang Zhenxuan's ranking dropped to 15th.

As the boss, Yu Minhong naturally could not tolerate the company's repeated derailment in public opinion.

Dong Yuhui's solo career is the result of a series of butterfly effects. Maybe Dong Yuhui didn't want to leave before, but now he has to leave; maybe Yu Minhong never thought about breaking up with Dong Yuhui before, but now he can no longer "walk with Hui".

Zhang Shule told New Weekly: "The separation of Yuhuixingxing and Dongfangxuan is an explanation to Dong Yuhui himself and a reflection of the company's management status. As a modern management company, Dongfangxuan can no longer act arbitrarily and talk to itself."

Between the internet celebrity model and the product route, Oriental Selection firmly chose the latter, which also means that Oriental Selection will continue to weaken the voice of the anchors. It is inevitable that Dong Yuhui will be marginalized or even leave.

Dong Yuhui's solo career is not easy

Yu Minhong must have struggled with whether to give Dong Yuhui freedom or not: Can Dongfangzhenxuan still be run without Dong Yuhui? Is the decline in Dongfangzhenxuan's revenue acceptable?

But now, Yu Minhong has given the answer through the split of the two companies - even if Dong Yuhui is lost, Oriental Selection can still operate.

"Although there will be short-term pain in the stock price, from a long-term perspective, the impact of Dong Yuhui's departure is manageable." Zhuang Shuai, an expert in the retail e-commerce industry and founder of Bailian Consulting, said in an interview with New Weekly. Dongfang Zhenxuan's financial report shows that from June 1 to November 30, 2023, Dongfang Zhenxuan earned a net profit of 509 million yuan, while Yuhui Tongxing created a net profit of 141 million yuan in nearly half a year, which is obviously a gap compared with the former.

Zhang Shule believes that the real advantage of Oriental Selection lies in its industrial chain layout, including the ability to control resources in the fields of agriculture, culture and tourism. Even if the top anchors are lost, the stability of operations can be maintained, which gives Yu Minhong enough confidence.

(Photo/Visual China)

In contrast, Dong Yuhui's solo career is not easy. As a live streamer, Dong Yuhui has always played the role of a "salesman". After taking on the responsibility of being the host, whether the show can be successful depends largely on the supply chain, which is a very serious problem.

Prior to this, the sales of the Yuhuixing live broadcast room in the first four months were closely related to the supply chain support of Dongfang Zhenxuan. At the shareholders' meeting at the beginning of the year, the management of Dongfang Zhenxuan stated that Dongfang Zhenxuan had the final say on Yuhuixing's supply chain. After the two parties were untied, the relationship was different after all, and they had to be responsible for their own business. As Dong Yuhui said: "After leaving the protection of the port, Yuhuixing will sail alone to the vast sea from today."

As for whether the market will choose Dongfang Zhenxuan or Yixingxing, a brand manager told reporters that as long as Dong Yuhui's IP appeal remains, brands will vote with their feet, and they only care about who can sell the goods. "After Dong Yuhui went solo, the brand group has been asking the contact person of Yixingxing, and no one mentioned Dongfang Zhenxuan."

Oriental selects the truth about Hong Kong stocks.

However, it obviously takes time to establish a supply chain. "Even if the deal fails, the righteousness remains. Only when the righteousness remains can we talk about business." Zhang Shule believes that if Dong Yuhui gives up the business adventure, then for a long time, Dong Yuhui and Dongfang Zhenxuan will still go together, playing a similar relationship with Li Jiaqi and the brand, and continue a state of "divorce but not separation."

No matter which option is chosen, it may not be what Dong Yuhui wants at the moment. From being a star teacher at New Oriental, a top anchor at Oriental Selection, to being a boss of Hui, the fatigue of this young man has long been written on his face. Dong Yuhui has too many shackles wrapped around him.

But people are always pushed by fate, just as his teacher and predecessor Yu Minhong said: "Life is not about what you choose, but what God gives you, and you do it well."

Now, even if Dong Yuhui is unwilling, he can only be pushed by fate and move step by step towards an ending that he cannot predict.

Proofreading: Yu Jian; Operation: Lu Zirui; Typesetting: Wei Pingting