New Oriental creates national buzz despite Tencent selloff
Dong Yuhui, a former English teacher, has gone viral for his bilingual livestreaming sessions on Douyin.
Tutors-turned-livestreamers at New Oriental Education and Technology Group have created a nationwide buzz and brought in new followers and increased sales to their official Douyin accounts.
Shares of New Oriental Education's online learning affiliate Koolearn Technology Holding rebounded on Tuesday following a selloff from major shareholder Tencent.
Hong Kong-listed Koolearn's share price skyrocketed 690 percent between June 1 and June 16, but is still down more than two-thirds from its all-time record high in mid-2020.
Mobile gaming and social media giant Tencent cut its stake in Koolearn on June 15 and 16 at average prices of HK$9.62 (US$1.23) and HK$9.68, respectively, according to the latest Hong Kong stock exchange filing on Monday.
Koolearn opened higher on Tuesday and closed up 3 percent to HK$17.5 and regained some of its Monday losses when it plummeted 32 percent.
It sold a combined 74.6 million shares worth as much as HK$719 million and reduced its stake from 9.04 percent to 1.58 percent.
Investors were abuzz about Koolearn and its New Oriental parent company, which is dual-listed on the NYSE and in Hong Kong, due to the marriage of livestreaming, teaching and e-commerce.
Former tutors became online promoters as the company reinvented itself into an agricultural marketing company.
It only attracted a few hundred daily viewers on average at the beginning of 2022, but the company's colloquial and down-to-earth style has ignited viewers and buyers for the past couple weeks.
Koolearn remained the top-grossing livestreaming account on Douyin over the weekend, with more than 52 million views on June 19 from over 16 million viewers.
