The sudden departure of the 'F4'—a group of four core anchors including Ming Ming and Tian Quan—marks a watershed moment for East Buy, the livestreaming arm of education giant New Oriental. Within a 48-hour window, the company lost the backbone of its secondary talent pool, signaling a deep-seated cultural rift following the earlier, high-profile departure of its biggest star, Dong Yuhui. This collective resignation points to a growing friction between the company’s pedagogical roots and its new, hard-nosed corporate direction.
At the center of the controversy is CEO Sun Jin, a 20-year veteran of the New Oriental system who took the helm in late 2025. While founder Yu Minhong initially lauded Sun as a 'problem-solving expert' capable of doubling operational efficiency, the departing anchors described an environment that had become cold, overly regulated, and hostile to individual creativity. The anchors explicitly targeted the new leadership, citing a cultural shift they found impossible to reconcile with their professional values.
This exodus is not merely a human resources failure but the byproduct of a deliberate, if painful, strategic pivot. East Buy is attempting to 'de-anchor' its business model, moving away from a reliance on celebrity influencers toward a standardized, product-focused retail model often described as an 'online Sam’s Club.' The goal is to build a stable enterprise where the brand outshines the individual, yet the execution has clearly alienated the talent that built the platform’s initial rapport with audiences.
Founder Yu Minhong has publicly admitted to management 'deviations,' acknowledging that the recent focus on rigid institutional control came at the expense of 'humanistic care.' This confession highlights the fundamental challenge of transitioning a company built on the charisma of former teachers into a streamlined e-commerce machine. As the company expands its private-label goods and integrates with offline schools, it faces a crisis of morale that could undermine its brand loyalty.
While East Buy’s self-operated product revenue continues to grow, its paid membership numbers have begun to show signs of stagnation. The strategy of using New Oriental’s physical campuses as distribution hubs and supermarket locations is ambitious, but it requires a motivated workforce to succeed. The 'F4' departure serves as a stark warning that in the attention economy, efficiency gains cannot always compensate for the loss of authentic, personality-driven engagement.