It was an inevitable breakup. On 25 July, East Buy Holding announced the departure of Dong Yuhui, and 100% of the equity of Walking with Hui was sold to him for 76,585,500 RMB (approx. 10,590,396 USD). Subsequently, Yu Minhong issued an open letter stating that the equity purchase price required for Walking with Hui was actually a gift to Dong Yuhui arranged by him. Both East Buy Holding and Walking with Hui are companies that focus on utilising livestreaming to sell products, particularly agricultural goods.
Additionally, to maintain Walking with Hui’s normal operations, East Buy Holding will provide its self-developed information system to Walking with Hui free of charge. Dong Yuhui’s response was equally fitting: ‘Separated from the blessing of the harbour, Walking with Hui will be sailing out into the vast sea on its own from today onwards. The future is unpredictable, so we have to do our best’.
The topic quickly dominated Weibo’s trendy list, with the top-ranked topic #Dong Yuhui Quits# garnering 270 million views, while other topics included #Dong Yuhui May Receive Bonus Over 140 Million RMB#, #Yu Minhong Thanks Dong YuHui#, etc. Despite various public opinions surrounding East Buy Holding, Yu Minhong and Dong Yuhui, the parties have handled their separation in an exceptionally civilised manner. The dilemma between Dong Yuhui and East Buy Holding essentially remains a power struggle between a prominent livestreamer and an organisation.
As East Buy Holding’s ‘top seller’, Dong Yuhui’s performance was unrivalled, but he remained in the role of an employee, which did not sit well with Dong’s supporters. After being ‘framed’ by East Buy Holding executives in December last year, Dong Yuhui’s new account, ‘Walking with Hui,’ was certified by TikTok, with authentication information that reads, ‘Walking with Hui (Beijing) Technology Co., Ltd.’ The company’s legal representative is Dong Yuhui, but the company is actually controlled by New Oriental, the company behind East Buy Holding. Walking with Hui was ranked second on TikTok’s list of top sellers in May with 533 million RMB (approx. 73.7 million USD) in sales, while East Buy Holding was ranked 6th.
The news of Dong’s departure sparked concern among netizens, who flocked to Walking with Hui’s livestreaming room to comment with words like ‘congratulations’ and ‘go for it’. Dong Yuhui’s position in the livestreaming industry has been similar to that of a star, but his character is very low-key. He doesn’t do attention-grabbing things, which sets him apart from livestreamers like ‘Crazy’ Little Brother Yang and others, who have always sparked controversy. Because of his character, Dong has many loyal fans and has also gained the support of many prestigious people, such as Chinese entrepreneur and internet celebrity Luo Yonghao.
Just last weekend, Walking with Hui completed its relocation from the New Oriental headquarters to a new office space. During the move, a large number of fans flocked to the new office address to watch, while many sent flower baskets and cakes to the new workplace. More than 100K online netizens visited Walking with Hui’s new office via livestreaming.
On the evening of 21 July, the Walking with Hui team completed the first livestream from the new address. The TikTok account gained 167,900 fans overnight, reaching 147K fans through livestreaming, creating a new high in single-day fan increase in nearly a month. According to Dong Yuhui, the size of the team has grown from about 70 people in January to about 150 people today, with a more complete organisational structure, including legal affairs.
