In the high-drama world of livestream commerce, few companies have captured the public's imagination quite like EAST BUY. This company's journey is nothing short of legendary, pivoting from education to live-streaming retail and, in the process, catapulting a superstar named Dong Yuhui to fame. But then, in an unexpected twist, he left to start his own streaming venture, attracting an audience that rivaled his former employer's.
That story seemed like a climax, but the drama was far from over. On August 2nd, another group of "defectors" from EAST BUY launched their own channel, calling it "Beautiful Tomorrow." The leader of this "rebel" army is Sun Dongxu, once Yu Minhong's protégé and a central figure in the infamous "little essay" incident involving Dong Yuhui. His lieutenants are charismatic streamers Mingming and Tianquan, two talents who were let go from EAST BUY. These three began their entrepreneurial journey, peddling Shaanxi baked bread slices and Dali winter jujubes from their studio.
And the results were nothing short of stunning. Within half an hour of their first broadcast, they shot to the number one spot on Douyin's overall sales chart. At the same time, Dong Yuhui's "Yuhui Tongxing" channel was in fifth place, and the main EAST BUY account was languishing in twenty-second. On their very first day, the former CEO and two ex-anchors of EAST BUY used their former employer's own playbook to outperform it, right under the company's nose. Their former boss, the 66-year-old Yu Minhong, reportedly spent the entire morning in his study, with the "Beautiful Tomorrow" livestream paused on his iPad screen. No one knows what he was thinking, but we can certainly speculate.
The explosive script of EAST BUY
In 2021, China's "double reduction" policy wiped out 90% of NEW ORIENTAL's market value. Yu Minhong donated 80,000 sets of desks and chairs, making a graceful exit. Everyone thought the godfather of China's tutoring industry was done. But Yu wasn't ready to give up. He decided to lead his loyal followers into a new frontier, and that's how EAST BUY was born. Dong Yuhui sold rice while lecturing on Shakespeare with a whiteboard; Dündün sold blueberries while playing the guzheng in a Hanfu. Fans had never seen anything like it. It was like buying products and getting a free literature lesson; not buying felt like you were shortchanging the teacher. The miracle materialized: in fiscal year 2023, EAST BUY achieved a GMV of 10 billion yuan.
But this miracle was heavily dependent on a single, viral star, making the business model fragile. Why fragile? Because you're tying the company's fate to one person. If that person is good, the company is good. If that person gets upset, the company collapses. The market began to whisper, "Without Dong Yuhui, there is no EAST BUY." Shareholders couldn't get a good answer to the question: "What happens if Dong Yuhui gets sick, quits, or stops working tomorrow?" The "little essay" incident wasn't just a personality clash between Sun and Dong; it was a strategic conflict. EAST BUY had a strategy to "de-head" itself, to eliminate the risk of an uncontrollable star anchor, and to put the company's initiative back in its own hands. Sun Dongxu was the executioner of this policy, but Dong Yuhui was well aware of his own value, making conflict inevitable.
In December 2023, the "little essay" incident erupted. What started as a small issue blew up into a major public relations crisis. Yu Minhong sensed the risk: so many fans supported Dong Yuhui that he might leave to go solo. To prevent this, Yu acted decisively. He fired Sun Dongxu as CEO, choosing to protect Dong Yuhui to stabilize public opinion and appease users. But the result was that Dong Yuhui's heart was already gone. And Sun Dongxu, a man Yu had personally groomed for sixteen years, had his feelings deeply hurt by the decision.
Following the "little essay" incident, Dong Yuhui was cast as a tragic hero. In the eyes of his fans, he was a brilliant young man oppressed by capital, fighting the system alone and winning his freedom. The working class empathized, fans were heartbroken, and the media had a field day. However, Yu Minhong, who cared deeply about saving face, went a step further. He set up a new company for Dong Yuhui, giving him complete control. He also transferred the entire management team—supply chain, product selection, operations, and marketing—to the new venture. All Dong Yuhui had to do was stand in front of the camera and talk about books, life, and his feelings. Livestreaming is an industrial process requiring a professional team for every step. This made Dong Yuhui's departure a no-brainer. He had everything: 38 million fans, a well-oiled team, and a ready-made supply chain. He essentially inherited a complete company. Even if Dong Yuhui was incredibly talented, rebuilding a team from scratch would have been a monumental task, and he might not have even considered leaving. In 2025, Yuhui Tongxing achieved a GMV of 20 billion yuan, proving his commercial value. But it also proved that the team Yu gave him was a highly capable one.
In business history, few people who are fired by their boss have managed to rebuild a successful career in the same industry. Sun Dongxu is one of them. He was fired in December 2023 but didn't officially leave until November 2025, a gap of nearly two years. What did he do during that time? He was put in charge of some peripheral businesses, excluded from core decision-making, and his office was moved from the top floor of headquarters to the third floor, with a view that changed from the entire Zhongguancun area to a row of air conditioning units. It was a form of exile. But Sun Dongxu became CEO for a reason, and he had a card up his sleeve: his two brothers, Mingming and Tianquan. Mingming had followed him for a decade, from Xi'an to Beijing, from a NEW ORIENTAL teacher to an EAST BUY anchor. Tianquan was also a loyalist who publicly defended Sun during the "little essay" incident, enduring hundreds of thousands of negative comments without deleting a single one. These two were Sun's trump cards.
On April 25, 2026, Mingming, Tianquan, and two other anchors announced their collective resignation. Yu Minhong tried to persuade them to stay, but it was useless; the plan had been long in the making. Three months later, "Beautiful Tomorrow" was officially registered. Sun Dongxu holds 34% of the shares, with Mingming and Tianquan each holding 33%. The three even embedded their names into the company's title: "Beautiful" is Sun Dongxu's nickname, and "Tomorrow" comes from the names Mingming and Tianquan. Sun's extra 1% equity gives him a veto power, making him the company's operator and, of course, the mastermind behind this defection. Sun Dongxu is essentially replicating the entire business model he ran at EAST BUY, covering fresh produce, food, cosmetics, performance brokerage, online culture, travel ticketing, and even medical devices. He aims to recreate the EAST BUY of his vision. Perhaps he harbors the thought, "Old Yu, you were wrong. Even without Dong Yuhui, I can build a successful enterprise. Just watch." The results of the first broadcast at least proved a point. He claimed no paid marketing, yet they achieved 8.17 million viewers, over 10 million yuan in sales, and gained 300,000 followers. A stellar start! Of course, the long-term outcome will depend on their sustained operational capabilities.
When Dong Yuhui left, Yu Minhong let him take some of the supply chain resources. When Sun Dongxu left, all he took was his experience. Three years ago, Yu Minhong probably never imagined this outcome. He tried to keep everyone, to find a balance, but ended up losing them all. Now, three distinct forces have emerged from the original EAST BUY.
Three divergent paths
EAST BUY is sticking to Yu Minhong's direction: betting on the product, not the person. Yu's logic has always been to never tie the company to any single individual. He appointed Sun Jin, a supply chain expert, as executive president, pivoting the company towards self-branded products, reducing the anchor's personal space, downplaying the humanistic livestreaming style, and emphasizing the "EAST BUY" brand itself. In the first half of fiscal 2026, revenue was 2.31 billion yuan, a 5.7% increase year-over-year, and the company returned to profitability. But the cost has been high. The "F4" group of anchors has all left, and the livestream's sense of connection has been replaced by promotional language. This is a safe path, but also a mediocre one. On the surface, Yu Minhong seems magnanimous, but inside, he must be hurting deeply, otherwise he wouldn't have made such drastic management changes. He may no longer face a crisis of Dong Yuhui's or Sun Dongxu's departure, but he will also never have a phenomenon-level IP like Dong Yuhui again. Safety and mediocrity are often two sides of the same coin.
Yuhui Tongxing, on the other hand, is betting on one person, not the product. Dong Yuhui's path is the lightest but also the most dangerous. No heavy assets, no complex teams, just selling products based on personal charisma. The upside is enormous, as evidenced by the 20 billion yuan GMV in a single year. But the margin for error is extremely low. For instance, when he recently claimed to have watched "A Chinese Odyssey" 500 times, he became a target of ridicule across the internet. If the IP falls, the business empire will crumble.
As for the newly launched "Beautiful Tomorrow," based on its current structure, it's betting on both the people and the system. Sun Dongxu has chosen a middle path. He has experienced the risks of a super-individual and the pain of de-heading. So his solution is to have two anchors share the risk, with an experienced operator building the system behind them. This model is theoretically the healthiest. However, the problem is the immense risk of a near-equal equity split among three people, which is a major red flag in equity design. Perhaps their long-standing relationship will serve as a mitigating factor.
Three companies, three paths, representing three evolutionary directions for livestream e-commerce. The internet is already buzzing with the question: "Who will win in the end?" The answer depends on how the market values scale versus flexibility, brand versus personality, and system versus individual.
Behind Yu Minhong's magnanimity
In July, Yu Minhong said in a livestream, "These kids have to find work when they leave, so they have to do what they know. China's market is big enough for everyone to develop together. I publicly express my best wishes to them and hope they do well." It was an incredibly magnanimous statement. But the real dilemma is that the "de-heading" strategy he created will now have to prove its merits through results. This only suggests that Yu hasn't yet found a perfect solution that offers the best of both worlds. If EAST BUY had managed to keep all these people, could it have become a hundred-billion-yuan platform today? The original intent of de-heading was to reduce risk. But if the result of de-heading is that all the heads end up working for the competition, is that a success or a failure?
The product selection and livestreaming style of "Beautiful Tomorrow"—featuring regional specialties and slow-paced explanations—are exactly the things the original EAST BUY excelled at. Behind the magnanimity, there is a deep bitterness. The safest path he chose has ironically made him the most insecure person. Now, EAST BUY will be squeezed from both sides by Yu Minhong's most accomplished protégé and his former brothers. But this is the path that Yu Minhong chose for himself.
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