Tech-related businesses are encouraging their workers to create an online presence, and encountering many of the pitfalls that fame can bring
When Yu Minhong, CEO of China’s livestreaming sales platform East Buy, made “a modest remark between friends,” he likely did not expect it would cause him such grief. The problems began on May 31, when Zhang Wenzhong, founder of supermarket chain Wumart, asked Yu for sales tips during his debut livestream on the short video platform Douyin (China’s version of TikTok). Yu replied, “East Buy is in disarray, and [I’m] in no place to give you any advice.”
Yu’s flippant, self-deprecating reply saw the company’s stock price plummet by around 22 percent—approximately 4 billion yuan in market value—over the following days. Meanwhile, the hashtag “Yu Minhong said that East Buy is in disarray” received over 68 million views and thousands of comments on the microblogging platform Weibo.
By June 7, Yu had publicly apologized to his clients, stockholders, and investors for his “imprudent expression” via Douyin. East Buy’s stock recovered by nearly 7 percent almost immediately.
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