Dong Yuhui and Yu Minhong had a long-prepared "breakup"

Tencent News Deep Web

2024-07-25 22:25Published on the official account of the "Deep Web" column of Tencent News in Beijing

Dong Yuhui and Yu Minhong had a long-prepared "breakup"

Screenshot of Dong Yuhui and Yu Minhong's live broadcast on the west trip

Author|Enron

Edited by Ye Jinyan

Produced by Deep Web · Tencent News Xiaoman Studio

Dong Yuhui's "solo flight" seems a bit sudden to the outside world, but it is no secret in Dongfang Selection.

"We knew for a long time that Dong Yuhui was going to fly solo, but as a 100% controlled company of Dongfang Selection, we must keep it strictly confidential before the company makes an announcement." An insider insider told the "Deep Web".

On the evening of July 25, an announcement from Dongfang Selection finally landed the "boots". According to the announcement, Dong Yuhui will acquire 100% of the shares of his peers with Hui for 76.5855 million yuan. This means that Walk with Hui will be separated from the Oriental selection system, and Dong Yuhui will become the actual controller of Walk with Hui.

According to the sale, 38,292,730 yuan of the purchase price shall be paid within 30 business days from the date of the sale agreement, and the remaining 38,292,730 yuan shall be paid within 10 business days from the date of completion of the sale.

Before this announcement, with Hui Walk was 100% controlled by Dongfang Selection, how did Dong Yuhui collect 76.5855 million yuan in 40 business days?

In this regard, Yu Minhong said in his official account that Yuhui holds the equity purchase money required for Hui's peers, and I will also arrange to pay it in a manner that complies with the rules of the listed company and the articles of association of the company. This sentence means that I arranged the money for Yuhui to buy the company, and the company gave it to Yuhui.

According to the announcement of Oriental Selection, from the establishment of Huihui on December 22, 2023 to June 30, 2024, the company's profit before tax was 188.554 million yuan and net profit was 141.414 million yuan. According to Yu Minhong's previous promise, Dong Yuhui can get half of the net profit of his peers. Calculated in this way, Dong Yuhui's income is more than 70 million, which is just enough to pay for the acquisition of Hui's peers.

However, this speculation was quickly denied by Yu Minhong. In the comments on his official account, he added, "In order to dispel the misunderstanding of the majority of netizens, I hereby add the following statement: All the benefits obtained by Youhui since its establishment, including all profits, Dongfang Selection has not taken a penny, and all of them have been left to Yuhui and Huihui to support their continued development." Thank you again for your outstanding contribution to the development of Oriental Selection!"

Translated into the vernacular, Yu Minhong not only gave Dong Yuhui his companion with Hui, but also sent about 140 million yuan.

A long-awaited "breakup"

In the opinion of some people close to New Oriental and Oriental Selection, Dong Yuhui's "solo flight" has long been hinted at.

First, since the launch of the broadcast on January 9, 2024, Huitong has not used Dongfang Selection's self-operated products, but has chosen to bring third-party goods, and self-operated products are the majority of Dongfang Selection's revenue. In this regard, a person familiar with the matter once revealed to "Deep Web", "It was decided by Mr. Dong Yuhui not to sell Dongfang's self-operated products." ”

The second is that after operating independently with Hui, some fans of Dong Yuhui are obsessed with "de-hui", and often go to the Dongfang Selection live broadcast room to diss the Dongfang Selection anchor, which is not only Yu Minhong's troubles, but also affects the fluctuation of Dongfang Selection's stock price, bringing huge uncertainty to the development of Dongfang Selection.

Yu Minhong also confirmed this in the official account, saying that "as an Internet-based enterprise, the power of public opinion often affects the development of the company. Although there has been no obstacle to the communication between me and Yuhui so far, the complex public opinion disputes, coupled with the guidance and rumors of a few forces with ulterior motives, have directly led to the estrangement between Dongfang Selection and Hui's peers. At the same time, I myself was deeply involved in the tide of public opinion, constantly attacked and stigmatized, and Yuhui was also subjected to a lot of groundless accusations and injuries, and this situation continues to this day. This public opinion environment has led to huge uncertainty in the development of companies on both sides, stock prices fluctuate violently due to external influences, and the company's credibility and reputation have declined sharply. ”

Third, a person familiar with the matter told "Deep Web" that after the "small composition" incident, between the Internet celebrity model and the product route, Dongfang Selection chose the latter more firmly. This means that Dongfang Selection will continue to weaken the voice of the anchor and firmly choose the product route.

All signs point to one point, Dong Yuhui's "solo flight" has long been a foreshadowing.

Yu Minhong confirmed this in an open letter to a friend of Dongfang's selection of shareholders.

"Around March, Yuhui and I met many times to discuss the follow-up development plan, and felt that the complex external and internal environment we faced would not only make the company's operation difficult, but also cause harm to the long-term development of individuals and the company. In order to ensure a better development stage with Hui and avoid business conflicts and public opinion entanglements, after repeated consultations, we finally decided to ask the board of directors for approval to transfer 100% of the shares of Hui to Yuhui himself after the end of the fiscal year (May 31). ”

Yu Minhong also said in the open letter that he would continue to support Hui in the future, including the docking of government resources and business opportunities.

In this regard, Dong Yuhui did not forget to express his gratitude to Yu Minhong, saying that the operation system with Hui was supported by Mr. Yu for free.

Did Yu Minhong suffer?

For a long time in the Dongfang selection of "small compositions", Yu Minhong fell into a dilemma. Luo Yonghao, who used to be a teacher in New Oriental, even commented on Yu Minhong's "whatever open-mindedness is pretended" in the live broadcast, and said, "It is relatively fair for Dong Yuhui to take at least half of the income in Dongfang's selection." ”

Judging from Yu Minhong's attitude and open-mindedness of giving Dong Yuhui the company and 141.414 million yuan of profits to Dong Yuhui this time, it is undoubtedly a slap in the face of the person who complained that Yu Minhong is an "iron rooster".

However, judging from the market value of Dongfang Selection alone, Yu Minhong did not suffer a loss, because Dong Yuhui once made the market value of Dongfang Selection rush to more than 70 billion Hong Kong dollars.

On June 8, 2022, before Dong Yuhui came out of the circle, the total market value of New Oriental Online (later renamed Oriental Selection) was HK$4.4 billion, and at its peak at the beginning of 2023, the total market value of Oriental Selection was nearly HK$70 billion, and the market value increased by about 16 times in half a year.

Dong Yuhui's rescue of Dongfang Selection's market value from water and fire is only one of the reasons why Dongfang Selection did not suffer losses, and more importantly, Dong Yuhui's personal IP has brought commercial value to Dongfang Selection.

The founder of a well-known MCN agency told "Deep Web": In general, in the industry, it is (GMV sales - cost) * 12 months * 100 months, which is probably equal to the valuation. At present, the valuation of Dong Yuhui's IP in the market is about 1 billion US dollars.

Ji Wei, founder of Huaying Capital, told "Deep Web": "Personal IP cannot be valued, and investment institutions value the institutions behind them, and they also look at their commercial value. ”

"My personal opinion is that top influencers can be encountered but not sought, and cannot be copied in batches. Once a head Internet celebrity appears, the company wants him to stay, or should strengthen the binding of the head Internet celebrity from the equity and internal services. Ji Wei said.

MCN companies should strengthen the binding of head Internet celebrities, which is contrary to Dongfang Selection's insistence on product routes.

Now, Yu Minhong has given Dong Yuhui with Hui, which not only fulfills his original promise, but also excludes the dilemma of walking with Hui and Dongfang Selection to fight with each other's left and right hands, and eliminate the strengths of the other.

At the moment, this result may not be a bad thing for Dongfang Selection, whose stock price is depressed and is consolidating its own business.

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