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a huge number of fans is a double-edged sword. while it can be quickly monetized, it also requires top anchors to be cautious in what they say and do and to operate in compliance with regulations.

recently, three sheep and brother xiao yang (real name zhang qingyang), who claims to have more than 100 million fans, have been on the hot search list many times. the three sheep selling hong kong meicheng mooncakes incident, which has attracted much attention from netizens, has not yet ended, and three sheep has been exposed to have quality problems with the moutai liquor it sells. simba and brother xiao yang's war of words also attracted attention, and simba's kuaishou account was subsequently blocked. therefore, china national radio and other central media sent reporters to conduct on-site investigations and reports.

under the attention of the media and netizens, on the day of the mid-autumn festival on september 17, the hefei high-tech zone market supervision and administration bureau issued a situation report stating that recently, the "hong kong meicheng mooncakes" sold by three sheep network technology co., ltd. through live streaming attracted attention. a case has been filed against three sheep network technology co., ltd. for suspected "misleading consumers" and other behaviors during the live streaming, and the case will be handled in accordance with the law and regulations based on the investigation results.

a bt finance search found that as of 20:00 on the evening of september 17, none of the three sheep group's direct-operated and influencer accounts had started broadcasting, including the "three sheep network" that had previously maintained daily live broadcasts. all of three sheep's live broadcast accounts were suspended throughout the evening.

according to the latest report from jiupai news, on the evening of september 19, the hefei municipal market supervision administration issued another notice, stating that the bureau had set up a joint investigation team with the commerce bureau, public security bureau and other departments to investigate and deal with the case in accordance with the law. a staff member of the douyin mall consumer customer service hotline said that the platform has intervened and the results will be made public after they come out. it will also jointly investigate with the market supervision department and will not condone it just because it is a live broadcaster.

how big is the investment portfolio of three sheep? why did brother yang, the last "glory" of the top anchor, end up in such a situation?

42 companies - xiao yangge's huge business empire

the three sheep not only provided a large number of jobs for hefei city, but also brought a lot of tax revenue.

according to official data released by the investment promotion center of yaohai district, hefei city on october 10, 2023, the output value of live streaming sales of three sheep network in 2022 exceeded 10 billion yuan, operating service income was 860 million yuan, and tax payments were 250 million yuan; it is expected that the output value of live streaming sales in 2023 will exceed 30 billion yuan, operating service income will reach 1.5 billion yuan, and tax payments are expected to exceed 450 million yuan.

bt finance checked public data, but there is no source showing that sanzhiyang's sales exceeded 30 billion yuan. according to china entrepreneur, sanzhiyang's gmv was 16 billion yuan in 2023. although the total amount failed to achieve the 30 billion yuan expected by hefei, sanzhiyang's gmv has increased by 1.5 times compared with 2022. based on this calculation, sanzhiyang's tax payment in 2023 is about 400 million yuan, which is still a major taxpayer in hefei.

hefei was previously known as a venture capital city. compared with hangzhou and guangzhou, its e-commerce genes were not strong. brother yang single-handedly made hefei, in addition to being a "venture capital city", quickly integrate with the internet, seize traffic dividends, and initially possess the style of an e-commerce city.

xiao yangge's success story is quite inspiring. in 2015, xiao yangge began to post short videos on kuaishou, mainly featuring funny and pampering content, and quickly became popular on the internet. in 2018, xiao yangge joined douyin. in 2019, his number of fans exceeded 10 million. in the following years, his number of fans increased exponentially. in 2020, his number of fans exceeded 40 million, and in 2022, his number of fans exceeded 100 million. as of september 16, xiao yangge's number of fans reached 118 million, making him the most popular online anchor in china.

the three sheep network was established not long ago. in march 2021, xiao yangge and his twin brother da yangge (real name zhang kaiyang) jointly established the three sheep network with hefei local serial entrepreneur lu wenqing. after nearly a year of planning, the three sheep network was officially put into operation in february 2022, and the three sheep group was established in 2023.

tianyancha shows that xiao yangge is the legal person of three sheep (hefei) holding group co., ltd., with a registered capital of rmb 50 million. its business scope includes venture capital, internet sales, supply chain management services, etc. through equity penetration, it can be seen that three sheep (hefei) holding group co., ltd. is held by hefei leading sheep culture media co., ltd. and hefei yaoyue eslite brand management co., ltd., with a shareholding of 67% and 33% respectively.

tianyancha shows that further penetration of equity shows that hefei lingtouyang culture media co., ltd. is wholly owned by the brothers xiao yangge and da yangge, of which xiao yangge holds 51% and da yangge holds 49%. it is an out-and-out family business. another shareholder of three sheep (hefei) holding group co., ltd., hefei yaoyue eslite brand management co., ltd., is 99% controlled by wu xiaoyan. through further penetration of equity relations, wu xiaoyan is the financial director of three sheep (hefei) holding group co., ltd., which means that xiao yangge has absolute control over three sheep (hefei) holding group co., ltd. and is the actual controller.

at the same time, three sheep (hefei) holding group co., ltd. has actual control over 42 companies through direct or indirect shareholding. xiao yangge's business empire covers internet technology, education, clothing, food, tourism, supply chain management, business management and other fields. these companies are located in hefei, hangzhou, beijing, shenzhen and other cities.

what attracted the most attention from netizens was the official opening of three sheep holdings (hong kong) co., ltd. on august 21. tianyancha showed that the company was registered on july 16. younger brother yang, biger brother yang, and other guests including eric tsang attended the ceremony. the sales volume exceeded 100 million yuan in 3 hours that night. younger brother yang claimed that eric tsang was the boss of the hong kong branch of three sheep.

three sheep frequently overturned

this is not the first time that the quality of hong kong meicheng mooncakes and maotai sold by three sheep live has failed. in the 2024 315 gala, anhui donghui food technology co., ltd. was named for using inferior rotten meat to produce meicaikourou pre-prepared dishes. the product contained a large amount of uncleaned lymph meat and thyroid.

on march 16, after the evening party was exposed, the well-known counterfeiter wang hai posted on weibo that this product had been sold in the live broadcast room of "crazy little brother yang". the sales volume exceeded 242,000 orders in just one live broadcast of three sheep qiao mei. calculated at 59.9 yuan per order, the cumulative sales exceeded 14 million yuan.

following wang hai's report, three sheep network responded on march 18, saying, "regarding the hotly debated online incident that the company promoted and sold "yuhuiyuan meicai kourou" produced by anhui donghui food technology co., ltd., which was suspected of using trough meat as raw material in violation of regulations, the company immediately arranged a special team to investigate, launched consumer registration on the evening of march 15, and began to advance refunds one after another."

many netizens were not convinced, believing that the consumer registration was launched on march 15, but the company did not respond until march 18, which was not a straightforward admission of fault. wang hai also believed that the apology lacked sincerity. he said on weibo that the operator of the live broadcast room had the obligation to pay punitive compensation of ten times the amount of the refund, but the statement did not mention the specific method and amount of compensation for consumers.

not long after the trough meat incident, the xiaoxiang morning news reported that the three sheep group and a wuhan media company jointly held an electronic music festival concert in luogang park, hefei from may 3 to 4. this was just an ordinary concert, but it was pushed to the hot search due to the high prices. according to the pictures posted by some netizens at the scene, the purified water at the electronic music festival was 20 yuan/cup, pulse was 30 yuan/bottle, and red bull was 28 yuan/bottle... the extremely high prices made the audience complain.

in response to the overwhelming doubts from netizens, xiao yangge had to respond in the live broadcast room on the evening of may 7, in which he said, "the prices of food and beverages at the electronic music festival are in line with the general prices in special scenarios (electronic music festivals), and all food and drinks at the electronic music festival are clearly marked with prices. there is no illegal operation to obtain illegal profits." consumers did not agree with xiao yangge's response. his douyin account received 336,000 comments and lost nearly 40,000 followers on the same day.

high-end liquor has high profits, and sanzhiyang has repeatedly entered the high-end liquor field such as moutai. according to the henan metropolis daily, on june 20 this year, mr. zhang from wuhan, hubei, said that he bought 24 bottles of moutai from sanzhiyang, and 14 bottles were found to be fake moutai after being identified by a third-party platform. however, sanzhiyang responded that it did not recognize the third-party identification results, saying that the company has always insisted on using authentic products as a guarantee, and everything is subject to official identification results. the identification results of any third-party identification agency are not authoritative and legal.

it is worth mentioning that the platform promised at the time that if the product was fake, it would pay ten times the price. take the case of mr. zhang in wuhan as an example. he spent nearly 70,000 yuan to buy these wines. if the policy of paying ten times the price was implemented, mr. zhang should be compensated nearly 700,000 yuan. however, three sheep only refunded mr. zhang in the end without any compensation. however, three sheep also "generously" proposed that the moutai wine did not need to be returned.

after the hairy crab incident, simba posted on kuaishou that he would start to provide 100 million yuan in compensation and after-sales service for some products of three sheep consumers, which won the favor of many consumers and increased his followers by 1 million.

investor shi baogang said that some of the top live streamers did not handle complaints about product quality well. "the reason why pang donglai has such a good reputation is because they handle product quality very well. in comparison, some of the top live streamers cry bitterly on live broadcasts, ban people from speaking in live broadcasts, and blame third parties, which are not conducive to solving the problem. if such problems are not solved, future failures will be difficult to avoid."

brother yang is on the same page with simba

it is undeniable that xiao yangge and simba are both top-tier online anchors in china, with a combined fan base of nearly 200 million. previously, the two had kept to themselves, with simba being the top anchor on kuaishou and xiao yangge being the top anchor on douyin, but this time, because of the hairy crab incident, the two have completely fallen out.

especially with the mid-autumn festival approaching, it is the peak season for hairy crab sales. all major live broadcast studios are unlikely to give up this big piece of fat meat. simba and xiao yangge have set their sights on hairy crabs. coincidentally, the hairy crab products they sell are the same product "crab lady" crab card gift box. who sells at a higher price and who sells at a lower price may become a sharp blade that affects the relationship between the two.

simba's assistant said during simba's live broadcast on august 31 that "the brand was also scolded by a certain anchor." considering what simba revealed during the live broadcast, such as "100 million fans" and "international company", he almost named xiao yangge. after all, there are only two anchors in china with more than 100 million fans, xiao yangge and simba. he said that person is definitely not himself. from simba's statement, we can also know that it was xiao yangge who sold mrs. crab first, and simba was a latecomer. however, the price of mrs. crab crab card gift box sold in simba's live broadcast room is more favorable than that of xiao yangge, which caused xiao yangge's dissatisfaction.

xiao yangge's insults to the brand and his actions of reporting the product angered simba, who shouted in the live broadcast room: "what do you have to compete with or scold? why are you scolding the brand?"

according to china business news, the mrs. crab hairy crab brand was first negotiated by simba's team three or four years ago and introduced to live e-commerce. he also participated in the formulation of the online after-sales standards for hairy crabs. there have been many hot sales in the previous sales. mrs. crab gave him the lowest price in the industry to express gratitude to him, so the price of hairy crabs sold in the live broadcast room is relatively low.

the crab card gift box in simba's live studio costs 238 yuan, including 4 male crabs weighing 4 taels and 4 female crabs weighing 3 taels. buy three and get one free, plus 6 bottles of iced black tea. in xiao yangge's live studio, the price is 298 yuan, including 4 male crabs weighing 3 taels and 4 female crabs weighing 2 taels, and the second one is free. however, the price difference between 2 taels, 3 taels and 4 taels is large. overall, simba's discount is greater.

as the war of words between the two escalated, "swearing" gradually took place. on september 1, simba's live broadcast clips blasting xiao yangge began to spread widely on major social media. simba said, "apart from a little traffic, what else do you have? you don't have quality inspection, after-sales service, compensation attitude, or responsibility attitude." "you also opened a company. which business model did you not imitate from mine?"

then in the early morning of september 2, three sheep co-founder lu wenqing and ceo du gang used uncivilized language many times in the live broadcast room to respond to simba, and claimed that "i have too many ways to know what you are doing. it's too bullying. each of you does business on your own platform. you can't do this. in order to do business, you have no bottom line to get traffic." but lu wenqing soon apologized for his uncivilized behavior, and simba said that he was willing to use 100 million to compensate xiao yangge's users, and then posted the transfer records.

brother yang did not respond directly to simba, but on the evening of september 3rd, he said in the live broadcast room of zhuo shilin, the head anchor of three sheep, "i don't want to say anything. there is no point in arguing. there are so many people below. there is no quarrel every day in the successful enterprises. brothers, just wait and see." but surprisingly, simba's live broadcast room was suddenly banned.

investor shi baogang believes that the battle between kuaishou and douyin may be behind simba and xiao yangge. simba and xiao yangge are the only two top anchors in china with over 100 million fans, representing kuaishou and douyin respectively. according to simba’s live broadcast at the beginning of the year, xinxuan group’s gmv in 2023 will exceed 50 billion yuan, and the total gmv in the six years from 2018 to 2023 will exceed 200 billion yuan. it is the undisputed top anchor of kuaishou. in 2019, xinxuan group’s gmv was 15 billion yuan, and kuaishou’s e-commerce gmv was 59.6 billion yuan that year, simba and his team accounted for more than 1/4. but with the rise of kuaishou e-commerce, xinxuan group’s share has become lower and lower. in 2023, kuaishou’s e-commerce gmv was 1.18 trillion yuan, and xinxuan group’s gmv accounted for less than 5%.

in 2023, the gmv of three sheep was only 16 billion yuan, less than 1/3 of xinxuan group, but brother yang showed a momentum of catching up, and his number of fans surpassed simba, making him the top anchor with the most fans on the entire network.

some industry insiders believe that the competition between the top anchors of the two platforms may be due to the anxiety of kuaishou and douyin. kuaishou's e-commerce business has now entered a period of slow growth. the financial report shows that kuaishou's e-commerce gmv in the second quarter was 305.3 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 15%. it is worth mentioning that the growth rate of kuaishou's e-commerce gmv in the first quarter was 28%. although it is still growing in the second quarter, the growth rate has dropped sharply. the year-on-year growth rate of e-commerce business revenue dropped from 47.6% in the first quarter to 21.3% in the second quarter. the number of users that investors are most concerned about has also declined, with the average monthly active users falling from 697 million in the first quarter to 692 million. as of 2024, douyin's monthly active users will exceed 1.5 billion. during the spring festival in 2024, there will be nearly 1 billion daily active users. in terms of the total number of users, douyin is far ahead.

so far, from wei ya to li jiaqi, from simba to xiao yangge, the top anchors have all "fallen overboard". is the world of live streaming e-commerce going to change completely?

author | wuji