EAST BUY has returned to profitability, with its stock price surging and the main account's follower count recovering. But has Yu Minhong truly stepped out of the shadow of Dong Yuhui? From the "most difficult days" to a soaring stock price, Yu Minhong has finally seen a turnaround. On January 29, EAST BUY's stock price opened higher and continued to climb, closing up 14.21%, with its total market capitalization reaching HK$26.6 billion; the following day, the stock rose another 5.71%, closing at HK$26.68 per share. This warm reception from the capital market was directly linked to its newly released interim report for fiscal year 2026: not only did revenue grow, but net profit surged 347.7% year-over-year, successfully turning losses into profits. The severely declining follower count also showed signs of improvement. According to new CEO Sun Jin, the main account recently gained followers "particularly fast." As of publication, its Douyin follower count had recovered to 28.12 million, essentially returning to levels seen early last year. But has Yu Minhong really moved beyond the shadow of Dong Yuhui? His "old rival," Yu Hui Tong Xing, is rumored to have exceeded RMB 20 billion in GMV for 2025, rivaling the retail legend Pang Donglai and leaving EAST BUY trailing behind. Furthermore, its substantial Douyin follower base of 39 million makes EAST BUY appear outmatched in the battle for traffic. Consequently, the company's recovery trajectory has failed to quell public debate over individual rivalries. As the question of "whether Dong Yuhui has surpassed Yu Minhong" is repeatedly debated, a clearer reality emerges: both individuals at the center of the storm are, in fact, under significant pressure. Looking back to July 2024, when star host Dong Yuhui branched out independently with Yu Hui Tong Xing, it dealt a massive blow to EAST BUY, creating the most severe turning point in its development history. The market responded swiftly and visibly: after the news broke, the company's stock price plummeted, wiping out nearly HK$3 billion in market value in a single day, indicating clear investor unease. Subsequently, the FY2025 results confirmed market worries: total revenue and GMV contracted by 32.7% and 39% year-over-year respectively, with the declines widening compared to the interim period of FY2025; net profit plunged dramatically by 97.5%. Following the profit collapse, the company also reduced its workforce by 482 employees, a 25% year-over-year decrease. In the court of public opinion, pessimism and skepticism became the dominant narrative, with widespread online chatter suggesting "EAST BUY is finished." Even Yu Minhong himself admitted it was the "most difficult period" since the company's transformation. However, the latest performance figures indicate that EAST BUY is gradually recovering from past turmoil. From June 1, 2025, to November 30, 2025, EAST BUY returned to profitability, with total revenue reaching RMB 2.312 billion, a 5.7% year-over-year increase; net profit was RMB 239 million, surging 347.7% compared to the same period last year.
▲ EAST BUY's performance is rebounding. A breakdown of the profit drivers reveals that "cost reduction" was a key factor behind this profit recovery. The financial report shows that during the reporting period, EAST BUY's administrative expenses decreased significantly by 78.6% year-over-year to RMB 83.9 million; R&D expenses also fell by 21.0% year-over-year to RMB 53.7 million; sales and marketing expenses decreased by 4.3% year-over-year to RMB 440 million. Simultaneously, EAST BUY optimized its workforce by 360 employees, a move that directly contributed nearly RMB 200 million to profit growth. This improved report card still sent a positive signal to the market. At the market open on January 29, EAST BUY's stock surged as much as 15.8%, with trading volume rapidly exceeding HK$1 billion, significantly higher than the previous day's turnover. By the close, EAST BUY's stock price settled at HK$25.24 per share, up 14.21%, with a total market cap of approximately HK$26.6 billion, marking increases in both share price and trading volume. Some investors commented on communication platforms that "the market's reaction exceeded expectations, indicating 'successful surgery, good recovery.'" Morale within the EAST BUY team has also risen accordingly. As new CEO Sun Jin stated during the interim earnings call, whereas the EAST BUY live stream previously started at 7:45 AM, the broadcast time has now been moved earlier. In contrast to Yu Minhong and EAST BUY, Dong Yuhui's journey since going solo has been notably vibrant and successful. On January 21, the Hurun Research Institute released the "2025 Hurun China New Traffic Power Top 100 List." The average上榜 institution on this highly competitive list boasts 280 million followers and 530 signed creators. As a newcomer, Yu Hui Tong Xing made its debut appearance, ranking fourth, trailing only industry giants like Meione, Wu You Media, and Yaowang Technology.
▲ Yu Hui Tong Xing is experiencing strong growth momentum. According to Hurun's estimates, the ten hosts under Yu Hui Tong Xing collectively generated over RMB 20 billion in live-streaming e-commerce GMV during 2025. The speed of Yu Hui Tong Xing's growth, as described by "Finance World WEEKLY," is such that it achieved in two years a sales scale that took Pang Donglai years of building a physical store network to accumulate. According to Lanjinger News, in 2025, the Yu Hui Tong Xing account gained 11.23 million followers, pushing its total follower count past 38 million. Even more impressive are the sales figures: 421 live streams, with an average GMV per stream between RMB 50 million and 75 million. Even using the lower estimate, the annual total sales surpassed RMB 21 billion—a figure approaching the performance of the retail legend Pang Donglai, which reported sales of RMB 23.5 billion in 2025. This series of dazzling data and industry rankings has fueled increasingly heated discussions about "Dong Yuhui surpassing Yu Minhong." In terms of follower count, the two have followed opposite trajectories: Yu Hui Tong Xing's numbers have climbed steadily, while the main EAST BUY account has consistently lost followers. As one rose and the other fell, Yu Hui Tong Xing surpassed EAST BUY in April 2025, and the gap has continued to widen since, now reaching a difference of millions. Regarding sales performance, according to statistics from the media program "BUG," from August 2024 to July 2025, the main EAST BUY account only made it into the top ten monthly sales charts four times, with its lowest ranking being 22nd in October of last year. In contrast, Yu Hui Tong Xing consistently maintained a position in the top three and has held the number one spot on the Douyin monthly sales chart since last November. This widespread debate over who is winning ultimately circles back to the most sensational topic: personal wealth. On one side, Dong Yuhui is portrayed as an inspiring success story. In the mainstream narrative, during his time at EAST BUY, he was reportedly so financially strained that he "needed to borrow money from Yu Minhong to buy a house." However, since Yu Hui Tong Xing began operating independently, alongside the company's soaring performance, he has completed a remarkable transformation from an ordinary employee to an entrepreneur achieving financial freedom. Interestingly, almost concurrently as Dong Yuhui was writing his new wealth story, Yu Minhong—who had long achieved financial freedom with a net worth exceeding ten billion—found himself in a public relations predicament due to an Antarctic incident. In November 2025, marking the 32nd anniversary of New Oriental, he sent an internal letter from Antarctica, using penguins enduring the winter to encourage employees to persevere. However, this letter, filled with personal observations, sparked widespread criticism from employees and the public due to the stark contrast between the "boss enjoying the Antarctic sunshine" and "employees working late in the office." It was criticized for lacking empathy, and he was even mockingly referred to online as "Lao Deng," becoming the internet's symbol of an out-of-touch "old money" elite. The sense of pressure for Yu Minhong has not eased. During the first half of fiscal year 2026 (June 1, 2025, to November 30, 2025), EAST BUY's total GMV was RMB 4.1 billion. The company stated that after excluding GMV related to the Yu Hui Tong Xing live streams, core business GMV grew by 16.4% year-over-year. However, compared horizontally, this figure represents a continued decline from RMB 4.8 billion in the same period last year and RMB 5.7 billion in the same period the year before, indicating that transaction volume has not fully recovered. Although EAST BUY has been pushing its self-operated products to improve gross margin. According to the financial report, revenue from EAST BUY's self-operated products reached RMB 2 billion, an 18.1% year-over-year increase, accounting for 86.5% of total revenue. Its share of total GMV reached 52.8%, exceeding half for the first time. The number of self-operated SPUs increased from 600 in the same period last year to 801, becoming the core driver of growth. Consequently, during the reporting period, EAST BUY's gross profit was RMB 842 million, a 14.5% year-over-year increase; the gross margin rose from 33.6% to 36.4% compared to the same period last year. However, the development of the EAST BUY APP has not seen explosive growth. Financial report data shows that GMV from the APP accounted for only 18.5%. Additionally, the number of paid members on its App was 240,100, actually decreasing from the 264,300 recorded as of May 2025. A decline in paid members is not good news for Yu Minhong, who aspires to build an online version of Sam's Club. Yu Minhong hopes to establish a private ecosystem akin to an online Sam's Club through self-operated products, but the decrease in member numbers suggests this strategy has yet to yield results. Clearly, succeeding in the self-operated product space is no easy task for EAST BUY. Currently, EAST BUY's GMV remains highly dependent on the Douyin channel, with the core source of customers and sales growth still originating from this platform, indicating that platform dependency has not fundamentally changed. Moreover, the traffic dividend from these platforms is gradually diminishing, a trend particularly evident on Douyin, EAST BUY's primary GMV driver: in the six months ending November 30, 2025, order volume on Douyin was 42.1 million, a decrease of 8 million orders compared to the same period last year, showing signs of channel fatigue. Facing this dual challenge, Yu Minhong is seeking change. Yu Minhong stated plainly that EAST BUY will launch multiple matrix accounts on Douyin focused on different niches, with the number of accounts exceeding 20. Based on a configuration of 3 hosts per account, the host team will expand from the current 27 to 60 people. Not only that, but Yu Minhong has also significantly increased his own participation. Since December 2025, Yu Minhong has personally led several "World Tour" live streams, leveraging his role as founder to attract traffic and build momentum for EAST BUY.
▲ Yu Minhong is live streaming frequently. In stark contrast, Dong Yuhui appears to be intentionally reducing his own visibility. In the week-long schedule of 56 live streams预告 for Yu Hui Tong Xing from January 12 to January 18, Dong Yuhui only scheduled himself for one appearance. Yet, Dong Yuhui has not been able to shake off the immense pressure he carries either. Dong Yuhui's contribution still dominated Yu Hui Tong Xing's GMV in 2025. Statistics from the third-party data platform Daduoduo show that in October 2025, Yu Hui Tong Xing had five live streams with GMV exceeding RMB 100 million each, and according to observers, Dong Yuhui was present in every single one of them. In other words, on this journey of growth and breakthrough, and in the debate over who wins or loses, both leaders remain indispensable at the helm; neither can be replaced.
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