China tech crackdown: Yu Minhong, founder of the nation’s largest private education services firm, makes debut as live-streaming host

The founder of New Oriental Education & Technology Group hosted his first live-streaming e-commerce session on ByteDance-owned short video platform Douyin

During that session, Michael Yu Minhong reiterated his company’s plan to launch a live-streaming e-commerce platform for farm products

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Michael Yu Minhong, founder of New Oriental Education & Technology Group, plans to diversify his company’s business into live-streaming e-commerce for farm products. Photo: Reuters

Published: 8:57pm, 29 Dec 2021Updated: 9:06pm, 29 Dec 2021

Michael Yu Minhong, the founder, chairman and chief executive of New Oriental Education & Technology Group, has added live-streaming e-commerce host to his illustrious career, following Beijing’s crackdown on the country’s once high-flying off-campus education services sector.

The 59-year-old education entrepreneur, often described as China’s most famous teacher, hosted his first live-streaming e-commerce session on Tuesday, pitching farm products such as cherries, on Chinese short video platform Douyin, operated by TikTok owner ByteDance.

Yu sold products worth about 4.6 million yuan (US$721,827) during his live-streaming debut, according to data from live streaming tracking platform Huitun. Some online users, however, complained that Yu pitched products that were too expensive. For example, a bunch of cherries weighing 2.5 kilograms cost 299 yuan, more than the price of 15 apples that sell for 128 yuan, according to Huitun data.

During that same session, Yu reiterated New Oriental’s plan to launch a live-streaming e-commerce platform as part of efforts to diversify its operations. Yu last month announced plans to set up a large-scale agricultural online platform, through which he will sell farm products with the help of hundreds of employees who have been reassigned from their teaching jobs.