When an online educator called Koolearn refashioned itself as a livestreaming e-commerce company in January 2023, the future for the newly named East Buy Holding Ltd. (1797.HK) looked promising. The former online subsidiary of private tutoring giant New Oriental Education (EDU.US; 9901.HK) made its unusual pivot after Beijing banned for-profit after-school tutoring in 2021.
East Buy charged out of the gate in its new format, reporting record revenue and profits of 4.5 billion yuan ($628 million) and 971 million yuan, respectively, in its fiscal year through May 2023, after a difficult previous year when it lost money. Things looked even better in its next fiscal year, as its revenue jumped to 7 billion yuan and its profit reached 1.7 billion yuan.
But the company’s rebound hit some sudden turbulence last year as it became embroiled in a high-profile spat with its star livestreaming host, causing its revenue, profit and gross merchandise value (GMV) to all fall sharply in its latest fiscal year through May, according to its new annual results released last Friday.