East Buy,Alanis (2017) a subsidiary of private tutoring giant New Oriental that successfully transitioned to livestream-selling farm products, saw its market price slump nearly 20% after a dispute involving influential livestreamer Dong Yuhui intensified. East Buy’s official Douyin account said promotional content read by Dong in a recent livestream was a result of multi-party collaboration and not Dong himself. East Buy now has over 30 million followers on China’s TikTok sibling Douyin, 800,000 less than a week previously. Founder and chairman of New Oriental Michael Yu apologized on Thursday as public uproar resounded online, saying it was supposed to be an “internal matter” and exposed to “big holes” in East Buy’s management. [TechNode reporting]
