When the CEO stepped down, Dong Yuhui did not win
定焦（dingjiaoone）原创
Author | Su Qi
Edit | Jin Yufan
On December 16, the "palace fighting drama" of Dongfang Selection finally came to an end.
After Dongfang Selection issued an announcement on the dismissal of Sun Dongxu as executive director and CEO on the morning of the same day, at 7 o'clock in the evening, Dong Yuhui and Yu Minhong started broadcasting on Douyin, responding to various rumors in recent days.
In the live broadcast, Dong Yuhui explained that he was on a normal vacation in his hometown in Shaanxi these days, and only returned to Beijing today. These days, countless media, investors, companies and even former students have approached him, but he feels at a loss, so they all refuse and remain silent.
He repeatedly emphasized the word "original intention", he believes that "the world is not short of me to sell goods, and it is not my heart to become an anchor and sales champion with goods", and he also revealed that his focus will be on agriculture, books, culture, tourism, and writer interviews in the future, "Salary is not my first pursuit, and Mr. Yu will naturally not treat me badly."
This also means that the small composition incident of Dongfang Selection ushered in the finale, Sun Dongxu was deposed, Dong Yuhui returned, and Yu Minhong took the position of CEO again to dominate the overall situation.
Yu Minhong also repeatedly emphasized in the live broadcast that the reason why the company caused such a big management accident was because he had been a "hands-off shopkeeper" for too long, and he had to take full responsibility, and the dismissal of Sun Dongxu's position was because the accident needed a result, and in order to give an explanation to shareholders, it had nothing to do with Dong Yuhui and there was no choice between two options.
At the same time, he also affirmed Sun Dongxu's past contributions to self-operated products and supply chains, and believed that the rapid development of Dongfang Selection was inseparable from Sun Dongxu, but there were management loopholes behind his vigorous and resolute management style. "Dongfang Selection will still be the current team in the future, but with a new CEO, Sun Dongxu will still participate in the development of Dongfang Selection. ”
The live broadcast of the two maintained 100,000+ online people throughout the whole process, and the audience kept rewarding, while saying "Yuhui is haggard", and shouted to Yu Minhong to let him "treat Yuhui well", and fans will "respect Yuhui's decision".
There are also many people who hope that this turmoil will pass as soon as possible, after all, it is not easy for Dongfang Selection to go all the way. But as Dong Yuhui and Yu Minhong said in the live broadcast, what is in front of them is a challenge that they have "not experienced", and the crisis of Dongfang selection has not been completely resolved.
Yu Minhong chose Dong Yuhui
Although it has been denied many times, on December 16, Dongfang Selection finally ushered in the finale of "choosing one of the two". On the same day, Dongfang Selection issued an announcement saying that Sun Dongxu was dismissed from the position of executive director and CEO of Dongfang Selection, and Chairman Yu Minhong concurrently served as CEO of Dongfang Selection.
Looking back on the development of Dongfang's selection of small essays, it can be described as twists and turns, and Yu Minhong's attitude has also changed from "playing 50 boards each" at the beginning to now decisively dismissing the CEO and calming things down.
On December 14, Yu Minhong first issued a video statement, saying that there were big loopholes in the company's management. He mentioned: (Dongfang Selection official account) Xiaobian's approach is seriously lacking in professionalism, Sun Dongxu mentioned Dong Yuhui's salary when explaining the problem, which is inappropriate, Xiao Sun (Sun Dongxu) does things, young and energetic, but not mellow enough, he has leadership responsibility as the chairman, and he also apologized to Yuhui.
Immediately afterwards, some media broke the news that a chat record leaked from Dongfang Selection showed that Yu Minhong is currently facing the problem of choosing between Sun Dongxu and Dong Yuhui. broke the news, "Sun Dongxu doesn't want Dong Yuhui to return to the East for selection, and the contradiction between the two is inevitable." In response, Yu Minhong responded again, "It's okay, it's not so serious." Dongfang Selection also said, "At present, Dong Yuhui is still working for Dongfang Selection, but it should not be broadcast in the near future." ”
With the further fermentation of the matter, on the evening of December 14, Sun Dongxu stood up and released an apology video, saying that when he explained the Dongfang selection issue live, he was a little aggressive from his demeanor, tone to expression, and he will seriously correct it in the future. He also apologized to everyone for mentioning Yuhui's salary as an unprofessional behavior.
However, the apology of the executives of Dongfang Selection did not calm the turmoil, and all parties ended up "scrambling for Dong Yuhui", once again pushing the incident to a climax.
On December 15th, Luo Yonghao, a former famous teacher of New Oriental, publicly talked about the Dong Yuhui incident in the circle of friends and in the live broadcast room of making friends, and encouraged Dong Yuhui to start a business many times, saying, "I am very willing to save a bureau with some friends who do investment and business to support him to start a business smoothly", "If you have the ability and the opportunities of the times are in front of you, my suggestion is to come out and do it yourself, and then find a reliable lawyer to help you check the gates." ”
On the same day, a screenshot showed that JD.com executives had gone to Shaanxi with Liu Qiangdong's handwritten letter to invite Dong Yuhui to join JD.com in person, and someone broke the news that "someone is willing to pay 500 million liquidated damages." However, Dong Yuhui denied all kinds of rumors, saying that "I have not contacted any company at present". Dong Yuhui's denial was interpreted by the outside world as his "nostalgia" and "leaving room".
On the evening of December 15th, the words and deeds of Dongfang Selection's anchor Tianquan directly pulled Dongfang Selection's reputation to the bottom: he imitated Sun Dongxu to drop his mobile phone during the live broadcast, and made controversial remarks in the live broadcast room: "It's easy to bring down Dongfang Selection, we all sell it for money, and before we block or take it off, you buy a coupon of 10 yuan of eggs first, so that you can double kill" "Things are not expiring, these people who ask if things are expiring, it is estimated that they can't afford our egg yolk crisp." At the same time, no one from the staff next to him came out to stop him.
The anchor's provocative words directly angered the consumers in the live broadcast room, and they all shut down Dongfang Selection. As of press time, the number of fans of Dongfang Selection is 28.45 million, and it is still declining, and more than 2.69 million fans have been lost in less than a week. At the same time, Dong Yuhui's fans reached 20.12 million, and after the "small composition" storm broke out, the number of fans increased by nearly 7.06 million.
In the early morning of December 16th, Dongfang Selection's Douyin live broadcast room announced, "Today is temporarily suspended, I have thought about it behind closed doors, please criticize." At the same time, from now on, the anchor Tianquan will stop live broadcasting for three months and severely criticize the anchor.
After Sun Dongxu was removed from the position of CEO of Oriental Selection, the share price of Oriental Selection continued to fall, falling 5.58% to close at HK$26.25 on December 16, with a market value of HK$26.6 billion. "It can be seen from the performance of its stock price that the problem of Dongfang Selection has not been solved. Some industry insiders said.
Some sharp-eyed netizens also found that the personnel appointment and dismissal notice of Dongfang Selection was not stamped with the official seal, and the format was also wrong, "The internal management problems of Dongfang Selection can be seen." ”
Dongfang Selection has not yet answered the fundamental question
In the eyes of some people, Dongfang's selection to remove Sun Dongxu is inevitable.
From the perspective of corporate governance, a small essay caused the stock price and market value of Dongfang Selection to drop by more than 20 percentage points, and someone needs to be responsible for this matter. "The removal of the CEO is a reasonable and correct decision, and if Yu Minhong does not remove the CEO, he will not be able to account to the shareholders and the board of directors selected by Dongfang. Zhou Ke, the person in charge of the operation of an MCN institution, concluded.
Another investor told "Fixed Focus" that for a listed company, the stock price and shareholders are the most important, and the decision to remove the CEO is also a decision passed by the board of directors, not Yu Minhong alone, which shows that everyone is dissatisfied with this.
Yu Minhong also mentioned this on the evening of December 16, saying that this was a major management accident of the company, and it was necessary to give an explanation to the board of directors with a handling result, and said that "this decision has nothing to do with Dong Yuhui." ”
It should be noted that Sun Dongxu was only removed from the position of CEO of Oriental Selection, and he also has many positions such as the legal person of Oriental Selection (Zhuhai) Tourism and Culture Co., Ltd. and the legal person of Oriental Selection (Beijing) Technology Co., Ltd. Yu Minhong also mentioned that Sun Dongxu, as an "entrepreneurial brother" who came over in the New Oriental era, will continue to contribute to Oriental Selection and New Oriental in his own way in the future.
At the same time, according to public information, the controlling shareholder of Oriental Selection is New Oriental Group, accounting for 54.892% of the shares, and the second largest shareholder is Yu Minhong, accounting for 2.678% of the shares. Sun Dongxu also holds a stake in Dongfang Selection, but the specific proportion has not been disclosed. In February this year, Sun Dongxu reduced his stake in the company and cashed out a total of 217 million Hong Kong dollars.
At present, it seems that the greatest value of removing the CEO lies in solving the current public opinion crisis of Dongfang Selection. "The removal of the CEO directly cuts off the trend of public opinion, and is more like calming public sentiment," Zhou Ke said.
The above-mentioned investors believe that Yu Minhong's move to remove the CEO has many considerations, "re-enhancing the cohesion of fans, persuading many poaching companies to quit, giving shareholders and brands an explanation, and confirming Dong Yuhui's status internally." ”
Screenshot of the live stream
As for why this decision has not been announced until now? The senior product manager judge said that because no matter how the incident is handled, there will definitely be losses, and the lesser of two evils can only be chosen. Sun Dongxu is a veteran, who played a great role in the process of Dongfang's selection and start, and also gave Dong Yuhui a lot of encouragement in the early days.
However, many industry insiders believe that the removal of the CEO can only solve the immediate problem, and Dongfang Selection and Yu Minhong have not yet answered the question of "whether Dongfang Selection has the experience and strength of MCN agency management".
As a traditional entrepreneur, Yu Minhong was still a little uncomfortable when he came into contact with today's "big IP (individual)" organizational model. The ability of the super IP of live broadcast e-commerce to obtain resources, bring influence and revenue, and the ability to pay individual premiums may be far greater than any role in the company, including the CEO. The CEO can be adjusted as a professional manager, but the super IP cannot be replicated.
Zhou Ke believes that this kind of anti-traditional enterprise growth route, the talent training mechanism and benefit distribution mechanism that need to be matched are different from the past, and the simple removal of the CEO cannot actually solve the root cause of the crisis, and the matter is not over yet.
Looking back on the development history of New Oriental, we have experienced the "infighting" and separation of the three giants of New Oriental, and have also experienced the departure of countless famous teachers. Yu Minhong once used the "chef effect" to illustrate the game between New Oriental and famous teachers: after the restaurant owner spends a lot of money on decoration, he invites the chef to sit in charge, and the customers are like clouds. When the chef begins to realize that customers like to cook their own meals, he goes to the boss to negotiate a share. If the chef's needs are not met, he will leave the restaurant, the restaurant will close, and the chef will not necessarily be able to work as a restaurant after he goes out.
In fact, the "chef effect" also describes well the dilemma of big anchors that Dongfang Selection is now facing, this era of resources being highly concentrated in individual IPs, has amplified this problem, and Dongfang Selection and the industry still need to explore solutions.
Dong Yuhui stayed, can Dongfang Selection go back to the past?
is just the removal of the CEO, the crisis can only be temporarily lifted, and Dong Yuhui's final choice is the key to the final settlement of the matter.
Most voices are inclined to say that Sun Dongxu is gone, and Dong Yuhui will choose to stay. The live broadcast on the evening of the 16th also confirmed this speculation.
On the one hand, Dong Yuhui has feelings for New Oriental and Yu Minhong, and Yu Minhong has already paved the way for him.
On the other hand, is it better to go out than to stay? Lang Gaoxian, Li Ziqi, Zhu once and other smash hit big IPs have too many lessons from the past, "Objectively speaking, Dong Yuhui's value can only be better played in the selection of the East, and his own ability and resources are not enough to start a business." Zhou Ke said.
There is no need for Dong Yuhui to go. "If he leaves now, someone will definitely take over, because he is a topic of conversation himself, but he should also know that his current worth is somewhat related to this turmoil. It is also unpredictable how long his strength will last and whether similar management problems will arise in the next family. The judge said.
If Dong Yuhui chooses to stay, it will involve two issues that the outside world is more concerned about, how does the company treat Dong Yuhui, and how does the company bind Dong Yuhui for a longer time?
There is a view that Yu Minhong also bears corresponding responsibility in this incident, that is, he did not clarify Dong Yuhui's position within Dongfang Selection earlier.
After Dong Yuhui became popular, objectively he could no longer be treated as a worker. Dongfang selected Dong Yuhui not enough in the eyes of the outside world, and it is not real enough.
Maybe Yu Minhong predicted that today's situation would occur, but he didn't grasp the rhythm well, and he was unwilling to break the original structure of the company too early. "But if we don't sort out the internal personnel structure and management system this time, even if there is a next Dong Yuhui, the company will not be able to catch it. The judge said.
In the live broadcast on the evening of the 16th, Yu Minhong repeatedly emphasized that "Dong Yuhui never proposed to leave, nor did he ask for much salary to continue to stay in Dongfang Selection". He also mentioned that the platform selected by Dongfang is unfair to Dong Yuhui, which restricts his development to a certain extent, and will give Dong Yuhui enough development platform in the future, as long as the platform is bigger, it will be linked to personal interests and development.
Dong Yuhui also said that due to the influence of the confidentiality agreement, he could not say the specific number, but he was very satisfied with the treatment given by the company, "I am more concerned about doing what I like than salary, eating and sleeping well every day." ”
A number of industry insiders suggested that Dongfang Selection may be able to manage Dong Yuhui in the way of managing artists.
Specifically, you might as well set up a company or studio for Dong Yuhui, Dong Yuhui accounts for seven to eighty percent of the shares, and Dongfang Selection accounts for two to three percent of the shares, and the company is responsible for its own profits and losses. It is equivalent to the company incubating him to start a business within the company and give him the space to grow independently. "This solves the problem of profit distribution and incentives, and changes from a control relationship to an equal partnership, which can also reduce mutual internal friction within the original company system," the judge said.
Yu Minhong mentioned at the end of the live broadcast that he hoped the team would work together to go back to the past. But the comment area is saying that even if Dong Yuhui returns, Dongfang Selection will not be able to go back to the past.
Compared with internal management problems, the bigger crisis of Dongfang Selection is that it exposes the fact that it is an MCN organization. In this way, the stories of independent apps and cultural tourism companies that have been told before will be re-evaluated. "The capital market is not optimistic about the model and ceiling of MCN institutions. Zhou Ke said.
Yu Minhong once wrote in "I Was on the Verge of Collapse" that in a sense, the biggest opponent of any business model, including New Oriental, must not be others, but himself.
At present, it seems that the selection from New Oriental to Oriental Selection is not a victory for the transformation of institutions, but just the luck of individual IP becoming popular.
*The title picture comes from @Oriental Selection. At the request of the interviewee, Zhou Ke is a pseudonym in the article.