Falling from the head and cutting the stock price in half, why is Dongfang Selection always "demolished" by its own people?

People of the Day

2024-06-30 17:58Daily People Official Account

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01 Dongfang Selection has recently fallen into internal problems, with founder Yu Minhong, top anchor Dong Yuhui and core anchors each throwing down a handful of straw to fuel the fire, causing fan friction.

02 The head anchor Dun Dun expressed his dissatisfaction with the company in the live broadcast room, believing that the management ignored the feelings of the anchor and the company did not protect the anchor.

03However, Dongfang Selection issued a statement clarifying that it had never asked for pit fees and publicity fees, causing a bigger storm, and Yu Minhong forwarded a statement stating that "rumors and slander are not accepted!" ”

04 Due to the loss of the traffic of the top anchors, the revenue growth of Dongfang Selection slowed down, and the profits declined, so it had to open other vertical accounts to find external traffic.

05 At present, the share price of Dongfang Selection has fallen by nearly half, and it is facing huge competitive pressure and transformation difficulties.

Technical support is provided by Tencent Hybrid Model

It seems that today's Dongfang Selection does not have the will and ability to bring out the second Dong Yuhui, and when he appears in the field of public opinion, he is always tied up and torn by various emotions.

There are all kinds of signs that Dongfang Selection is not ready to become a head MCN company in the popular sense, and is losing its killer feature.

Text: Chang Fangfei

Edited by Xin Ye

Killer whales

A fire lit by one's own people

Just half a year has passed since the "small composition" turmoil, and the internal problems of Dongfang Selection have once again been exposed in front of everyone. The founder Yu Minhong, the top Dong Yuhui, and the core anchors each threw down a handful of straws to fuel the fire, and the sparks rubbed by fans from all parties quickly ignited a fire and scorched Dongfang Selection.

The protagonist of the latest attack is one of the head anchors, Dun Dun (formerly known as Wang Ruo Dun). This person, who graduated from Zhongnan University of Economics and Law with a major in business English and seems to be always smiling when bringing goods, also chose to express his dissatisfaction with the company in the live broadcast room this time.

The fuse of the conflict is familiar, and Paton believes that the management has ignored the streamer's feelings. On June 26, Dongfang Selection's clothing matrix number was launched, and he only learned a few days ago that he was going to participate, and the company arranged its own shift "without consulting with the anchor" in advance; When the storm of public opinion swept in, the public relations department did not choose to protect the anchor because of "fear of this and fear of that". This made him a little disappointed in the company.

▲ Dongfang Selection anchor Dunton expressed his dissatisfaction in the live broadcast. Picture / Video screenshot

After the topic rushed to the hot search, he seemed to realize the recoil caused by his remarks. Soon, he changed his tune in the live broadcast room, comparing Dongfang Selection to a big family, and he expressed his dissatisfaction, but the child complained about "Mom and Dad", and he didn't want his friends who cared about him to be sad, and he didn't want "bad people who are good at marketing to use this as an excuse to attack the company".

The wrestling between anchors, fans, and companies seems to have subsided quickly. But bigger storms are brewing. 8 days ago, Dongfang Selection anchor Ming Ming (formerly known as Shi Ming) was in Dong Village, Zhaoxing, Guizhou, using "broken mountains and rivers" to describe the terrain of the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, and the ridicule of local spiders in the anchor YoYo Weibo was also picked out at the same time. Although he clearly explained that he was just quoting information, netizens obviously didn't buy it, accusing him of "ulterior motives", and even thought that Dongfang Selection was dissuading tourists and "smashing the pot after eating".

▲ Oriental Selection YoYo ridiculed the spider and was questioned for "reverse publicity" of Guizhou Cultural Tourism. Picture / Weibo screenshot

Dongfang Selection did not continue to respond to the attacks of netizens, but instead issued a statement last night (June 29), clarifying that he had never asked for pit fees and publicity fees. In fact, before the company's announcement, most netizens were not even aware of this "rumor". And this statement completely ignited the flames of war.

The company first characterized the recent turmoil as an organized rumor-mongering, and then attached the full text of the rumor in a rare case. Rumors say that Guizhou Cultural Tourism originally wanted to invite Dong Yuhui, but Dongfang Selection used his banner to quote a "7-figure publicity fee". The full text only respectfully refers to Dong Yuhui as "teacher", and calls Dongfang Selection "next door", and even calls Yu Minhong "old man", which seems to have a clear position. Yu Minhong, who has always been gentle and gentle, couldn't sit still, and he quickly forwarded this statement, stating that "rumors and slander are not accepted!" ”

▲ Oriental Selection issued a statement. Picture / Weibo screenshot

Fans on both sides put on a posture of starting a war. After the "small composition" turmoil half a year ago, Dong Yuhui's rapid self-reliance was more like the situation forced by the situation. According to people familiar with the matter, with Hui will focus on the direction of cultural tourism in the future, and has started the recruitment plan at the same time, and will soon move away from the office where Dongfang Selection is located and enter the Internet financial center. After full power, the competition between Dongfang Selection and the two live broadcast rooms of Hehui in the same direction and the resulting comparison are inevitable.

GMV is a "performance" that both sides value. Since the launch of the broadcast with Hui, the number of fans and sales of the main account of Dongfang Selection have declined. The logic is almost exactly the same as that of the fan circle, and fans regard this as a zero-sum game of life and death.

Yu Minhong's Douyin comment area quickly became a battlefield chosen by fans to tear each other apart. The two sides scrambled to present each other's "incriminating evidence". Personal attacks are the basic operation of the fan circle, and the "mothers-in-law" are consciously targeted, showing the abuse of Dong Yuhui by the Dongfang Selection fan group.

Whistleblowing remains the most effective weapon of destruction. In the screenshot of "Mother-in-law", the fans of Dongfang Selection collectively called for reporting Yuncheng Cultural Tourism and Hebei Education Bureau, just to blast the live broadcast room led by Dong Yuhui. In addition to cross-examination, feelings are also a tool for fans on both sides to take advantage of - "It's really distressing", "Why do you never refute rumors for walking with Hui, even once".

And Yu Minhong, as the chairman and CEO of this listed company, is regarded as a person who must preside over justice. Thirty years ago, Yu Minhong was compared by Xu Xiaoping to Moses in the book of Exodus, when he led a group of young people from nothing to financial freedom in the image of a savior. Two years ago, Dongfang Selection was born, and Yu Minhong once again successfully replicated this narrative. This time, he is no longer the core of the system of producing stars and creating wealth, but he can't escape the storm of public opinion derived from it. After fans on both sides threw evidence and reasoned, the last step was to call on Yu Minhong to be sure to balance the bowl of water and "don't favor one over the other".

The scorching anger also scared the onlookers, seeing the instant influx of thousands of messages from fans on both sides, some netizens couldn't help but complain about a good company, and they could also make a "mess" in the comment area. This is exactly what Yu Minhong has experienced in the past year. A month ago, Zhang Wenzhong, the founder of Wumart Group, made his Douyin live broadcast debut, but it was Yu Minhong who talked to him on the hot search.

▲ The dialogue between Zhang Wenzhong and Yu Minhong is on the hot search. Photo / Screenshot of the live video

Zhang Wenzhong asked him for his live broadcast experience, and Yu Minhong not only criticized "Dongfang Selection is doing a mess now", but also suggested that the other party should not broadcast live, because he has received more than 100 lifetimes of abuse and insults on the Internet in the past year. Hearing the comments from the helm, the capital market immediately lost confidence, and the stock price of Dongfang Selection fell by nearly 10%.

"Ranshichihachi"

When it comes to the current situation of Dongfang selection, some people always want to talk about the suggestions made by Luo Yonghao when he supported Dong Yuhui in the "small composition" turmoil half a year ago-

If you are not convinced, you will do AB testing in two live broadcast rooms within Dongfang Selection. Dong Yuhui has been broadcast for a month in the live broadcast room A, and Dong Yuhui does not show up in the live broadcast room B.

This is actually a real big test. As early as the establishment of Dongfang Selection two years ago, the original CEO Sun Dongxu made clear the positioning of Dongfang Selection - to be a consumer brand company, rather than an MCN agency that is highly dependent on anchors.

In half a year, the results are beginning to appear. According to Feigua data, from January to May this year, the GMV of walking with Hui was between 530 million and 930 million yuan, and if Dong Yuhui was used as the coordinate system, the results of Dongfang Selection were not eye-catching, not only completely bidding farewell to the top of the list of goods talents, but also hovering between 240 million and 640 million yuan.

In the past 618 promotion (May 24 to June 18), the top three on the list of Douyin influencers with goods have become Guangdong couples, Jia Nailiang, and Walking with Hui. And Dongfang Selection, which has won the championship many times, fell to the tenth place on the list.

▲ 2024 618 Douyin talent with goods list. Photo / Cicada Mother Data

The problem faced by Dongfang Selection soon became how to reverse the slowdown in revenue growth and declining profits after losing the traffic of the head anchor.

A person close to New Oriental once revealed to the media that Oriental Selection is very clear that without the over-the-top anchor, the GMV of the live broadcast room will inevitably decline. Yu Minhong repeatedly emphasized that Dongfang Selection looks at the matter of live streaming with a calm mind, but in the face of cruel numbers and competition, the actions at the executive level will inevitably be deformed.

Under the heavy pressure of performance, the anchors selected by Dongfang had to completely change their style. In a widely circulated animated picture, Dunton was in the live broadcast room of Oriental Selection of Beautiful Life, holding a sign with both hands, and shouting loudly with exaggerated movements: "You are here, buy an order and then go!" YoYo also counts down "3,2,1,link while comparing gestures". Two years ago, Dunton was famous for his gentle voice and bilingual recitation of "Tao Yao" in the live broadcast. Just a year ago, Yu Minhong stated at the annual meeting of the Yabuli China Entrepreneurs Forum that the ideal anchor should "spread knowledge", and he completely despised the howling live broadcast of buying, buying, buying, buying. In his questioning voice, Dunton explained that different live broadcasts must be followed by the rhythm of the platform in order to be continuously pushed.

▲ The anchor suddenly sold goods in the live broadcast room. Photo / Screenshot of the live broadcast

The growth rate of the main account slowed down, and Dongfang Selection had to open other vertical accounts to find external traffic, such as Dongfang Selection Clothing, Dongfang Selection Roast Sausage, and Dongfang Selection Hour, and the fans basically stayed in tens of thousands. The biggest change in the past six months is the entry into the "hour" business, which first started pilot operation in Beijing. The official said that Dongfang Selection already has 17 warehouses within the Fifth Ring Road, and the distribution business is fully undertaken by JD.com, which can basically be delivered within two hours in the urban area.

To promote the new business, Dongfang Selection still allowed the anchors to show their housekeeping skills - writing small compositions, and even planned the anchor's personal delivery, Tianquan, Feng Feng, Siyu, and Jingwen took turns to serve as riders and take orders randomly. In front of the Oriental Selection camera, the delivery man "shuttles through the building" and is "the blood rushing in the city". But this business has caused Dongfang Selection to further lose blood. The input cost of the front warehouse means that the net profit of Dongfang Selection in fiscal year 2024 may decline further, and the collapse of Daily Youxian has become a lesson from the past. On the day it was announced, Dongfang Selection's stock price fell more than 9%. In the past six months, the share price of Oriental Selection has fallen by nearly half.

If it can't become a consumer goods company, as an MCN agency, Dongfang Selection will not be able to replace Dong Yuhui's core anchor. At one time, Dunton was pinned on high hopes.

Two years ago, the Oriental Selection Beautiful Life account, which focuses on beauty and skin care and daily necessities, was established, and the live broadcast room continued to follow the bilingual delivery method of Oriental Selection. This time, there was no Dong Yuhui and Yu Minhong in the live broadcast room, and they were replaced by Douyin with 2 million fans.

The outside world believes that this is an attempt to get rid of "Dong Yuhui's dependence" at that time. According to insiders, the main account at that time did not give more traffic tilt, but in 618 a year ago, the GMV of Dongfang Selection Beautiful Life reached 250 million to 500 million yuan, which was in the same gear as making a friend in the head live broadcast room. Among them, the anchor Dun Dun made a great contribution, and the report of Guosen Securities pointed out that Dun Dun's contribution to the popularity of the Oriental Selection Matrix was once second only to Dong Yuhui.

But before Dunton became the next Dong Yuhui, the conflict between fans and the company, internal management problems gradually emerged, and the turmoil that Dong Yuhui experienced seemed to be going through it again.

Half a year ago, the storm of the "Little Composition" incident covered up a "tearing" action by Dunton fans. Because in the poster released by Dongfang Selection, Dunton did not rank C, fans pointed the finger at the operation, and in the uproar of public opinion, the official quietly deleted the promotional materials.

The hearts of fans are unpredictable, and sometimes the C position is not popular, in the posters of many people, fans think that "the left is the honorable position", and because Dunton did not rely on the left, he turned to question that the company did not give "the first brother of a beautiful life the respect he deserves". At that time, Dunton clearly supported the company and clarified to fans that he hoped not to destroy the relationship between colleagues and that the salary was worthy of his own efforts.

Just a few months later, he was the next critic of the company.

▲ The poster of Dongfang Selection once fell into "tearing" questions. Picture / Video screenshot

Dongfang Selection has lost its killer feature

The two years that Dongfang Selection and Dong Yuhui became popular were two years of reshuffle of live broadcast e-commerce, and two years of rapid change in the competition of the whole industry. Especially in 618 this year, whether it is Taobao, Jingdong, Pinduoduo, Douyin, the competition for "low price" on all platforms has evolved into a white-hot war, and compressing profits to maintain growth has become the consensus of all players.

And all signs show that Dongfang Selection, which inhabits the traffic field, is not ready to become a leading MCN company in the popular sense, and is losing its killer feature.

At the beginning of the establishment of Dongfang Selection, the former CEO Sun Dongxu set the strategy of self-operated brand and self-built supply chain. In his usual meetings, he mentions that Sam's most learning object for his self-operated team is Sam's, hoping that the team can make Sam's-level products.

At present, Dongfang Selection's R&D strategy for new products is still to use many products supplied to Dongfang Selection as a "racecourse". When the GMV of a product reaches the explosive standard, Dongfang Selection will consider including it in its own supply chain. In 2022, Xuan Ma's egg yolk crisp became a hit, and it didn't take long for Dongfang Selection to launch its own egg yolk crisp and choose the same supplier as Sam's.

But even if the suppliers are consistent, without Sam's annual revenue of more than 60 billion yuan, it means that it is difficult for Dongfang Selection to gain the upper hand in the competition of the price mechanism. is also 660 grams of egg yolk crisp, the price after the Oriental selection coupon is 44.8 yuan, and Sam only needs 42.8 yuan.

The road to becoming Sam is not easy, and Dongfang Selection has set its sights on cultural tourism, but this is also a business that looks at "people". In the past, there was a controversy caused controversy by the team with Hui in the live broadcast of Yongle Palace in Yuncheng, Shanxi, and then the inappropriate words used by Dongfang Selection to Guizhou were questioned, and the anchor's every move in the live broadcast room attracted much attention.

From the first day of live broadcast, Dongfang Selection did not plan to hand over the dominance of the live broadcast room to the anchors who appeared on the scene like Mei ONE and Three Sheep.

Dong Yuhui, YoYo, Dunton, Ming Ming and other anchors were all New Oriental teachers before, and the spotlight did not shine on the Oriental selection for half a year, they broadcast live in shifts for 15 hours a day, and the company will basically ensure that the frequency, duration, and number of exposures on social platforms of each anchor are consistent.

▲ Oriental selection anchor. Photo / Screenshot of the live broadcast

A year after the explosion, Dong Yuhui rejected more than a dozen business and endorsements worth a total of more than 10 million yuan, because "I don't want to suffer if I earn too much money". In fact, Dongfang Selection prohibits all anchors, including Dong Yuhui, from using their personal accounts to receive endorsements and business cooperation, and is not allowed to live broadcast and accept interviews in their personal capacity. Dunton also half-jokingly explained in the live broadcast room that he didn't want to develop in the entertainment industry.

This strategy is not unrelated to Yu Minhong's entrepreneurial journey.

Looking back on New Oriental's 30-year entrepreneurial history, after experiencing the disintegration of the founding team and the departure of a large number of famous teachers, Yu Minhong used the "chef effect" to describe the wrestling between the company and the famous teachers: the restaurant owner invested a lot of money in renting and decorating, and invited the chef to take charge, and when the business was booming, the chef would ignore other factors, thinking that making money was all his own credit, and went to share more benefits with the boss. Once the request is not met, the chef leaves. Yu Minhong believes that entrepreneurship should guard against this effect, but in fact, the "chef effect" still reflects the game between Oriental selection and head anchors.

Even for the rank-and-file employees, the bookish-looking company is by no means utopia, but full of competition, complex relationships, and all kinds of temptations of fame and fortune.

According to people familiar with the matter, unlike the outside world's imagination, the entire New Oriental Group is a relatively strict organization, and "cross-level and cross-departmental communication can easily cause dissatisfaction with superiors." Although HR employees say that they will have regular job reports and salary increases, in fact, "the rank and salary of the entry are basically fixed". Some employees expressed a similar view in an interview, saying that the stability of middle-level cadres selected by Dongfang means that the promotion space of grassroots employees is limited. To some extent, this is also the embodiment of the will of Yu Minhong, who is at the helm.

▲ Yu Minhong. Photo / Visual China

It seems that today's Dongfang Selection does not have the will and ability to bring out the second Dong Yuhui, and when he appears in the field of public opinion, he is always tied and torn by various emotions.

And it seems that it will also be difficult to complete the transformation of the rebirth. As a person who ultimately "backs" for the company, Yu Minhong frankly analyzed the obstacles brought by his personality to the company - I am weak, unwilling to face people hard, sometimes look forward and backward in doing things, and obviously think that the decision is right, but considering the emotions of other people, I am not motivated enough, resulting in the slow change of New Oriental.

The market value continues to plummet, which means that the capital market has little time left for Dongfang Selection to hesitate. As Yu Minhong said, the biggest competitor of a company is itself. Now, the time has come when he has to make a decision.

Resources:

[1] "The Origin of the Oriental Selection Conflict: Unbalanced Relationships, Different Goals", LatePost

[2] "After the market value evaporated by 80%, Dongfang Selection began to tell two new stories" online merchants in the world

[3] "I Was on the Verge of Collapse", Yu Minhong

[4] "Oriental Selection Tastes the Sweetness and Bitterness of Knowledge-based Live Streaming", Economic Observer

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Personal opinion, for reference only