It's boiling, and it's the first hot search. Before the opening of the market today (18th), Dong Yuhui's identity has become a senior partner of Oriental Selection!At the same time, "Dongfang Selection has promised Dong Yuhui's sky-high treatment" also ranked third in the hot search.
In the early hours of this morning, the Dongfang Selection Weibo account issued a live broadcast trailer, saying that Yu Minhong and Dong Yuhui will broadcast live at 8 pm on December 18. The poster of the event shows that Dong Yuhui's identity has become a "senior partner of Oriental Selection".
On December 18, Hong Kong stocks opened, Oriental Selection (HK.01797) opened nearly 12% higher, with a market capitalization of more than HK $30 billion.
After the Dongfang Selection Jilin special warm-up ** "Small Composition" incident, in the boiling of the public and the silence of individuals, they finally waited for the live broadcast of Dong Yuhui and Yu Minhong "combined" on the evening of the 16th. In front of the camera, Yu Minhong and Dong Yuhui could not hide their exhaustion. Many netizens lamented in the comment area: "Dong Yuhui has no light in his eyes. ”
Once, Dong Yuhui and Dongfang Selection colleagues had such a classic dialogue "small composition":
Yuhui, you will shine!”
I'm just fortunate to be against your light!”
The turmoil may have subsided, but the senior executives of well-known investment institutions, institutional executives who are deeply involved in super-head Internet celebrities, and former employees of Oriental Selection believe in an interview with the reporter of "Daily Economic News" (hereinafter referred to as "every reporter") that the internal problems of Oriental Selection have not been solved, and the capital story of Oriental Selection is far from over.
For the young Dong Yuhui, loyalty has already been expressed, but can he really not make waves in his heart?
New Oriental can be called China's "fast mouth" training machine: a mouth can defeat thousands of troops, a few words can attract millions of fans, an anchor can attract tens of millions of "mothers-in-law", and a small essay can cause a big storm. Being able to speak is New Oriental's "gene", the foundation of its life in the live broadcast jungle, and the lead line for this "infighting" from the enterprise to the attention of the entire live broadcast e-commerce rivers and lakes, and the violent fluctuations in the capital market.
20 years ago, New Oriental was a famous teacher manufacturing machine;But now Dongfang Selection is difficult to become a "Dong Yuhui" manufacturing machine.
Business stories, in the final analysis, are the stories of "people", and human nature is the biggest variable in which business stories are so exciting.
Generals and defeats
On December 17, Oriental Selection announced on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange that the board of directors had resolved on December 16 to remove Sun Dongxu as chief executive officer and remove him as executive director of the company, effective immediately. Chairman Yu Minhong concurrently serves as the CEO of Oriental Selection.
According to the announcement, in view of the recent turmoil, Sun Dongxu's job change reflects his recent mismanagement of the company's brand and reputationThe Board believes that Sun Dongxu's resignation from these positions will better safeguard the interests of the Company's shareholders.
The rumored "choose one of the two" has become a prophecy, and three iconic characters of the New Oriental from different generations have gone from the intersection to different story curves.
The story between Yu Minhong, Sun Dongxu and Dong Yuhui is actually the legend of the three Bole horses.
I took my little grandson with me, and my little grandson took (his) little brother to fight the world together. In the early live broadcast, Yu Minhong once commented that Sun Dongxu was "the most critical and core figure in the development of Dongfang Selection".
laid down the world, when Dongfang Selection became a pivotal existence in the domestic live broadcast industry, this veteran who had followed Yu Minhong for 16 years, was dismissed by an official document due to "accumulation of management loopholes".
Because he was deeply inspired by Yu Minhong's live speech in his freshman year, Sun Dongxu joined the Foreign Examination Department of Tianjin New Oriental School in 2007 just after graduating from the Computer Science Department of Nankai University.
A year later, he went to work at Hefei New Oriental School, where he rose through the ranks to become the school's principal in 2013. In 2016, he was transferred to Xi'an to serve as the president of New Oriental China's Northwest Region and the principal of Xi'an New Oriental School.
Mr. Sun is a strange person in New Oriental. In a live broadcast last year, Dong Yuhui talked about his acquaintance with Sun Dongxu, and he praised Sun for his "amazing physical strength, clear thinking, and strong strategic planning ability".
It was also in that live broadcast that Dong Yuhui expressed that Sun Dongxu's ability and personality were a key reason why he was willing to come to Beijing from Xi'an, "To do things, many times you just need to follow the right person." ”
Judging from the secular commercial judging standards, Sun Dongxu and Dong Yuhui are both the right people. New Oriental ** was successfully listed, although the ** education business performance was not outstanding, but after the advent of the "double reduction", Sun Dongxu and Dong Yuhui, the two main forces, miraculously worked together to push New Oriental ** to the new channel of live broadcast e-commerce.
It was the image of a brave and resourceful general. This is very different from Sun Dongxu, who recently appeared on social ** - a "failed general" image closely linked to "too heavy daddy", "stock price diving" and "fan loss".
On the evening of December 14, Sun Dongxu issued an apology for his demeanor, behavior and mention of Dong Yuhui's salary in the "small composition" incident, saying that his behavior was "unprofessional".
He is a very responsible person in his work and very meticulous in management. A former Dongfang selection employee Xiao Lin (pseudonym) revealed in an interview with a reporter from the "Daily Economic News", "For example, if he finds that the handover of the two anchors in a live broadcast is not satisfactory enough and can be optimized, he will ask the two anchors to write a review essay." ”
The former employee also told every reporter that during his tenure, all new anchors had to learn Xi an electronic version of the document called "Jack Instructions" on the first day of employment, and Jack is Sun Dongxu's English name.
According to Kobayashi, the document contains hundreds of Sun Dongxu's "overall thoughts and specific instructions" on the anchor's work and the content of the live broadcast room, which will be updated several times a week, "There are very specific things, such as what should be paid attention to when the two anchors are handed over, and there are also many suggestions on the overall direction, such as what style the anchor team should maintain." ”
However, in terms of specific business line selection, Xiao Sun's cognition is sometimes not particularly in-depth. Yang Yang (pseudonym), a former employee of Dongfang Selection, said for example, that he had learned that after Dong Yuhui sold nearly one million copies of Chi Zijian's "The Right Bank of the Ergun River", Sun Dongxu immediately asked the person in charge of the business to select 100 similar books, "He thinks that if there is one such book, he can find 100 copies, but in fact, this is very unrealistic, it is difficult to find three or five copies, and it is said that in the end dozens of copies were made up." ”
Yu Minhong once mentioned the edges and corners of Sun Dongxu's personality in the live broadcast, "A person who adheres to principles and dares to fight with me on some issues, and even sometimes even very fiercely." ”
As the issuer of work instructions, he has a very high right to speak, a strong appearance of vigorous and resolute action, and the ambition to do everything, when these factors are superimposed with the limitations of his own cognition and ability, cracks begin to appear.
Superiors vs. subordinates
Affected by the "small composition" incident, as of December 16, the number of fans of Dongfang Selection's Douyin account fell to 28.43 million, losing nearly 3 million fans in less than a week.
On December 14, in the face of this unprecedented crisis, Yu Minhong summarized the reasons in a short time, "There are big loopholes in the company's management."
This also cannot stop the sharp decline in the confidence of the capital market.
On December 15, the stock price of Dongfang Selection **558% to 26HK$25, with a total market capitalization of 266HK$4.4 billion, down more than half from the market value on December 8, and HK$7.5 billion evaporated.
According to a person close to Dongfang Selection, Dongfang Selection's anchor team "should be about 30 people, of which about 80% are from the New Oriental Group." However, this data has not been conclusively confirmed by Dongfang Selection.
Before joining the company, HR (Human Resources) described Dongfang Selection as an image of internal equality. "The name of the leader in a company can be used as an observation point for the workplace atmosphere. Before Xiaolin joined the company, HR specially explained that Sun Dongxu could not be called "Mr. Sun" and "teacher" in the company, but could be called "Xiao Sun" and "Jack", "But my feelings after joining the company are very different, and the relationship between superiors and subordinates is still obvious when I actually work." ”
Yang Yang also mentioned that a number of colleagues in Dongfang Selection have expressed similar troubles - when there are business problems on WeChat or DingTalk that need Sun Dongxu's confirmation, sometimes they can't get a reply from him for a long time. For this problem, some employees who are not from New Oriental Group will choose to communicate with Sun Dongxu in personBut many colleagues from New Oriental will feel that this may be an interruption to the leader, so isn't it good. ”
But Sun Dongxu wants the anchors to be "on call 24 hours a day", and he asked everyone in the DingTalk group to "read" the news he posted, "He said that you (anchors) must do this (timely response) to do this job." ”
In the process of Dongfang Selection's complete transformation into a live broadcast e-commerce company, HR has cast a wide net to famous teachers, hosts, art college graduates and other groups in the education industry. According to the above-mentioned person close to Dongfang Selection, the anchor team and a few departments, such as the quality management department responsible for self-operated products, were interviewed by Sun Dongxu himself. It is said that he is extremely strict with the selection of anchors, "I can meet fifty, sixty, or even hundreds of people a month, but Xiao Sun is very likely to only pick one or two people." "He has his own criteria for judging and cares a lot about the uniqueness of the streamer team. ”
Dongfang selection will not determine the specific development path of the newcomer anchor at the beginning of his employment, but depends on the performance and personal characteristics of the newcomer when practicing on the self-operated account. "Those who perform well are basically assigned to the tuba. The person told every reporter.
According to Xiaolin's understanding, Dongfang Selection hopes that the newcomer anchor can be broadcast within one to two weeks. "It's a lot of pressure to give newcomers a lot of work at the beginning, go to work at 9 o'clock, when all the work is done, it's almost 12 o'clock at night, the pressure of the old anchor's live broadcast is not small, many anchors have lost weight," Kobayashi said, "But the anchor team didn't give me a feeling that they were under a lot of pressure, the whole office atmosphere was very harmonious, there was often laughter, they were a group of very simple and sincere people." ”
In addition, some industry insiders revealed to the "Daily Economic News" reporter that the turnover rate of Dongfang selection anchors is not high, and the liquidated damages in the contracts signed by well-known anchors are as high as 100 million.
According to Yangyang's personal observation, almost every anchor was personally selected by Sun Dongxu, but after joining the company, "the little anchor basically has no opportunity to communicate directly with Xiao Sun". Yang Yang introduced that there are multi-layered relationships between the anchor and Sun Dongxu, such as the business director and the vice president of the anchor department, "The vice president in charge of the anchor department is drawn from New Oriental Group. ”
The large number of layers affects the smooth flow of communication. An insider told the "Daily Economic News" reporter that in several local special live broadcasts, when the team saw that the performance was not as expected, they would remove the original bibliography halfway and temporarily replace it with "easy-to-sell agricultural products", "but the original cooperative publishing house has already printed the book, and it may not be sold out for two years if it is not in the live broadcast room." ”
When the reporter asked Xiao Lin to confirm the matter, he said that he did not know about the matter, but many times the affairs between various departments could not communicate smoothly, and similar implementation problems would indeed occur, "Xiao Sun did not coordinate effectively, because he had too many things to manage, and he couldn't manage it, and more energy would be spent on the self-operated business." ”
Yu Minhong also made it clear in the live broadcast response on the 16th that the reason for Sun Dongxu's dismissal had nothing to do with Dong Yuhui, "The reason for the removal of Sun Dongxu is mainly due to his mismanagement."
However, Sun Dongxu's execution is still obvious to all, and Yu Minhong is also lamenting that he is not as good. Although Sun Dongxu no longer serves as the CEO of Oriental Selection, Yu Minhong said that after Sun Dongxu stepped down from the CEO position, as his little brother and the entrepreneur of New Oriental, he will continue to contribute to Oriental Selection in other forms.
Roles withBenefits
Talking about the management problems exposed by this "small composition" incident, in addition to Sun Dongxu in the controversy, a core executive who has been deeply involved in the overhead organization all the year round said in an interview with the reporter of "Daily Economic News" that the normal operation of the live broadcast room actually covers the two fields of "live broadcast" and "e-commerce". Live streaming is "ideology", and e-commerce is "transaction", so there must be two dimensions of supervision at the same time.
In his opinion, the anchor keeps talking in front of the stage to express himself, and making a mistake is a probabilistic thing, even if the probability is only one percent, if he says 100 sentences, there will be a mistake in theory. In this case, in the face of inevitable errors, the entire risk control and review and control mechanism of daily content production in the live broadcast room is very important.
At present, there is basically no selection in the East. This can also be seen that Dong Yuhui's success is really "the aftermath of his life".
The executive emphasized that in the live broadcast e-commerce ecosystem, the anchor is only a part of the stage, for the anchor, he needs to have a distinct personality, and maintain this persona, only with the deeper and deeper connection with fans, in order to more effectively generate fan repurchase. In this case, the backend needs to continuously carry out a wider range of risk control and control.
If you want to describe the relationship between the front and back office, the front office is similar to constantly 'stepping on the accelerator', and the background is constantly 'stepping on the brakes', which is a delicate balance relationship. The above-mentioned overhead agency emphasized that this means that the position of Mr. Yu, who is responsible for the overall **, is extremely critical, and he must balance the relationship between back-end products, risk control and front-end IP content.
According to the executive's observation, "these things sent out have not been reviewed and controlled, and some sensitive pictures and pages encountered in the live broadcast room, which were not corrected and stopped in time, pinched, and skipped, which is incredible, which fully reflects that Dongfang Selection is still very immature in the middle and back office and internal control and risk control." The person commented. After this incident, Dongfang Selection lagged behind in public relations.
Judging from the financial report, the first annual results disclosed by Dongfang Selection in August this year show that in the 2023 fiscal year (June 1, 2022 - May 31, 2023), the company's GMV (turnover) with goods will reach 10 billion yuan, with a total order of 13.6 billion orders;Total revenue increased by 651% year-on-year to 45100 million yuan, net profit of 97.1 billion yuan.
The above-mentioned overhead institutions believe that for a company of this magnitude, not only should there be a large team of thousands of people as Mr. Yu said, but more importantly, there must be a large number of back-end configurations, and the current risk control mechanism of Dongfang Selection needs to be supplemented urgently.
Another focus caused by the turmoil is whether Dong Yuhui's salary and package match his merits.
In an interview with the reporter of "Daily Economic News", the core executives of the above-mentioned deep cultivation of super head institutions believed that first of all, for the head anchor of the extremely influential "Dong Yuhui level", he is no longer just an anchor, he is essentially a super IP, and the relationship between him and fans is similar to that between stars and fans;Dongfang Selection is more like the role of "star's brokerage team + **chain cooperation company", users go to the star rather than the platform, so it is extremely sticky. For this kind of super head, if there is not enough benefit distribution, the people's hearts will not be able to stabilize in the long run.
What kind of salary is worthy of Dong Yuhui?"Normally, the super big anchors in the industry get at least 60% to 70%, and many get 90%. The executive revealed.
In the view of the above-mentioned executives, from the perspective of long-term stable development, it is normal for Dongfang Selection to try to avoid the company's performance being completely affected by IP, and "de-IP" or "dilution of IP".
And each company will deal with it differently: some will choose to do all the derivative product development around an IP, and then turn the IP into a brand;Some will choose to develop into a marketing company around IP;Others will develop this IP into a powerful channel (retail giants like Walmart and Carrefour).
However, Dongfang Selection has obviously chosen another path - hoping to copy the next Dong Yuhui, the next super IP. This set of playing style should be said to be very difficult, at present, in addition to Xin Xuan, Simba has successfully copied a series of super anchors such as Dandan, Shi Da Meimei, Zhao Mengche, etc., (other companies) have not achieved a second success. ”
The executive pointed out that the development time of the live broadcast e-commerce industry is still relatively short, and everyone's understanding of this industry is still relatively shallow.
Yu Minhong is also aware of this problem. On the evening of the 16th, in the live broadcast of "integration" with Dong Yuhui, he made it clear that Dongfang Selection will soon start a ** adjustment, including the treatment of all anchors, "This adjustment is not only for Dong Yuhui alone, but for all anchors in the company." Yu Minhong also said that Dong Yuhui will definitely have the right to speak in the company in the future, and he also hopes that Sun Dongxu can continue to make suggestions, "What Dong Yuhui wants to do in the future, as long as I think it is reasonable, I will definitely mobilize resources to help him achieve it."
Clubs & Stars
What I achieved in 30 years, Dong Yuhui achieved it in only two months, and now his influence has surpassed mine. Yu Minhong once commented on Dong Yuhui.
This young man dared to call Yu Minhong "old man" in front of all the audience during the live broadcast, and openly sat in the C position when he ate with Lao Yu, and he would also hook up with Lao Yu, compared with the traditional management system of New Oriental, this must be a deviance. In the face of the post-00s and open live broadcast format, New Oriental, a traditional company, has transformed under the new wave, although it has been effective, but it is a little hesitant to adapt to the laws of this new era. It is also for this reason that Dongfang Selection has been in turmoil.
Xiaohua's (pseudonym) team had a brief collaboration with Dongfang Selection. Before June last year, in her words, when Dongfang Selection was "out of fire", they did work on the Douyin platform and account operation for Dongfang Selection.
Oriental Selection is very similar to another team we have worked with before, they are like a family business, but not exactly a family business. Most of the time, they rely on the employees' admiration and personal feelings for Yu Minhong, and do not do some clear management according to the modern company, which is a 'daddy' big patriarchal company, which is not conducive to the further development of their live broadcast industry in the current Internet era. Xiaohua told the "Daily Economic News" reporter.
According to her recollection, most of the MCN companies they have cooperated with have a clear division of labor, and Dongfang Selection often has to choose a product or make a decision for a long time, "Our team will give them some suggestions according to the gameplay of Douyin, but Dongfang Selection has its own set of rules, and they are unwilling to cater to the rules of the platform." ”
Such a management style may also make the "small composition" turmoil of "tearing the crown" a thing that will happen sooner or later.
In Xiaohua's view, Lao Yu's thinking is still the thinking of teaching and training, not the thinking of live broadcast e-commerce. When he was a New Oriental, a teacher, and a principal, he could become a famous teacher or centralize power, but what the Internet wanted was IP, which Lao Yu did not do.
Is it okay to go to Yuhui?Yes, you can negotiate the proportion of sharing, give enough benefits, give enough face, and talk to Dong Yuhui like this with Dong Yuhui's *** Yu Minhong. Xiaohua said.
In Xiaohua's view, Lao Yu wants to copy Dong Yuhui like he used to copy famous teachers, but Dong Yuhui can't be copied, people like not only Dong Yuhui, but also what thousands of migrant workers see in Dong Yuhui;Do people pay attention to who wrote the little essays?The person who just paid attention to the small composition was Dong Yuhui.
Lao Yu's cherishing of talents, concessions, as well as his traditional concept and New Oriental's patriarchal management model, how to adapt to the current competition and living environment of live broadcast e-commerce is a common problem for Yu Minhong and Dongfang's selection management.
Wang Shu, managing director of CITIC's private equity investment division, has a similar view. In an interview with the reporter of "Daily Economic News", he said that the bottom problem of this matter is the lack of understanding of the new business model. For the management of New Oriental, they believe that the management and operation of the platform are more important than the "Internet celebrity" individual. Between personal value and company value, they value the latter.
Wang Shu even believes that under the current business model, the impact of personal IP and head Internet celebrities on the entire platform is greater than that of the platform itself. In other words, a top influencer can become a company and platform by itself, but an influencer company or platform, without the head anchor, it may be nothing. Therefore, the only thing the platform can do is to make full use of it when cooperating with individuals, and at the same time quickly cultivate a follow-up Internet celebrity matrix, and lock in time and non-compete protection through contracts in advance. It's like the business model of a football club at home and abroad, where the superstar is bigger than the club.
Cui Dongsheng, vice president of Make a Friend Holdings and general manager of the ** business department, told the reporter of "Daily Economic News" that the head anchor is the company's core resources, and what executives should do is to maximize the income of core resource utilization, long-term maintenance layout of core resources and maintenance of core resources. However, the challenge lies in how to make the best use of head resources at the same time, and how not to rely too much on a single one, "de-heading" is not to weaken the power of the head anchor, but to flower more and reduce the proportion of the head.
Capital & Model
After a live broadcast of "father's love and filial piety", the crisis of Dongfang selection seems to have passed. But more importantly, the Oriental Selection, which has been polished by the "small composition" turmoil, may have lost its charm in the eyes of investors.
Why is it that capital is rarely willing to invest in a single company with a distinct personal IP?Because of the risk of personal IP destruction, "once Dong Yuhui quits, Dongfang Selection will be 'Weinian' (an MCN company)." ”
And now, the power of Dong Yuhui's fans can indeed cause shocks in the capital market. When the "mothers-in-law" flocked to the Gaotu live broadcast room, the stock price of Gaotu US stocks accumulated **72% in 4 trading days, and the increase on the night of December 14 alone reached 2927%, while the market value of Dongfang Selection evaporated by HK $7.5 billion in just a few days.
Dong Yuhui made it clear in the live broadcast of "Lao Yu's Gossip" on the 16th that he would not leave Dongfang Selection, which can be regarded as stabilizing the morale of the army. However, there are still many netizens who still think that Dong Yuhui "must leave in three years". Human nature is the biggest variable in the business story, and the promotion of Dong Yuhui to senior partner this time can be said to be another major stroke in Yu Minhong's career.
Whether it is the sky-high offer in June last year, or the recent Luo Yonghao's shouting in the air and the rumors of Jingdong's invitation, Dong Yuhui's determination to stay in the East and select "the one who is a confidant dies".
As for the question of whether Dongfang Selection should take the "product route" or "Internet celebrity route" in the future, Xiaohua believes that with the current state of Dongfang Selection, it should still take the product route, because of this strength, "He (Dongfang Selection) is different from Gaotu, first, he has a capital chain, and second, they have done a good job in self-operated products, and there are a lot of ** Chain brands are willing to cooperate with them, although some cooperation may inevitably have some unhappiness in the process, but that is only a small problem, in most cases the cooperation will still be very happy, Oriental Selection will still do a good integration of products and brands.
Talking about whether Dong Yuhui has investment value if he starts a business independently, Long Lu (pseudonym), a well-known venture capital managing partner and CEO, told the "Daily Economic News" reporter, "Anyone who comes out to start a business is an assessment of long-term comprehensive ability, depending on what team he has formed, what cooperation he has, who invested in him and so on." It's a series of overall questions, not just how one person can come out. ”
Long Lu believes that MCN institutions are essentially doing "people" business, people are independent individuals, it is indeed difficult to manage, and like other head anchors, Dong Yuhui will also face the same risks, "Every anchor is a product, and if an anchor has a problem, it will affect the entire company, which is quite difficult to avoid." ”
From our point of view, if this kind of relatively top anchor comes out and has the opportunity, we will definitely be willing to contact it. He said.
Another well-known investor, Zhou Ge (pseudonym), also told every reporter that like any entrepreneurial process, the income of important team members must match their contributions, and there must be a reasonable reward mechanism, otherwise it will not develop for a long time.
Zhou Ge believes that the easier way for Dong Yuhui (if he leaves Dongfang Selection) may be to go to another platform that is willing to accept him, and with the help of the platform's system, influence and combined with his personal traffic, he can quickly reach a new height.
However, he reminded that it is necessary to be vigilant against the occurrence of Li Ziqi and Wei Nian (Li Ziqi did not understand the terms in the early stage and accepted the terms, and in the later stage, due to unreasonable struggles, resulting in a lose-lose situation). ”
Zhou Ge mentioned that at present, China's live broadcast e-commerce industry has not yet formed a set of standard investment models that meet the consensus, and the existing problems include the high risk of investors in the early stage, and how to adjust the mentality of both parties and how to continue to cooperate once they achieve great success in the later stage.
In any case, the anchors who show their talents in the live broadcast room should not become a victim of the loss of progress in the workplace.
Both Sun Dongxu and Yu Minhong must admit that this is an emerging industry with a completely different operating logic from before. Even though Yu Minhong's explanation in the live broadcast room seems to be very perfect, some people in the industry still think that it retains the "patriarchal logic".
Perhaps, even Yu Minhong never thought that this new start-up that had been successful would generate another major test for him.
For the young Dong Yuhui, loyalty has already been expressed, but can he really not make waves in his heart?Can he really "stay free"?
Reporter|Yang Xinyi, Zhao Wenqi, Chen Ting, Li Zhuo.
Edit|Yi Qijiang Liu Xuemei.
Vision|Shuai Lingqian.
Yi Qijiang.
Typography |Yi Qijiang.
National Business Daily.