Yu Minhong at New Oriental's Hong Kong exchange listing ceremony, November 9, 2020. Credit: New Oriental
In July 2021, China’s government nearly wiped out the country’s entire online tutoring industry after it banned almost all private, after-school educational services. Six months later, Yu Minhong, founder of online education giant New Oriental, was seen in public for the first time in a surprising new role: selling cherries and other fruits and vegetables via a livestream.
Yu’s move was part of New Oriental’s pivot to e-commerce after its previous business of selling after-school tutoring and classes became nearly impossible. At the time, Yu’s livestream was widely viewed as a desperate attempt to save a doomed enterprise. His apparent fall from grace even elicited sympathy among some Chinese internet users concerned about one of the country’s previously most successful entrepreneurs.
But a year-and-a-half into New Oriental’s e-commerce experiment, Yu’s pivot appears to be paying off. New Oriental’s latest financial results reveal that the firm has regained prof
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