[Epoch Times November 26, 2021](Epoch Times reporter Li Yun reported) Recently, Dong Mingzhu, chairman of Gree Electric, China’s largest air-conditioning company, and his 22-year-old female secretary, Meng Yutong, unexpectedly became popular. On the 26th, Meng Yutong started his live streaming career. Some analysts believe that behind Gree’s new action is the anxiety of declining performance and falling stock prices.
On November 26, the Daily Economic News reported that Meng Yutong, a girl from Zhejiang University, was selected by Dong Mingzhu in July for participating in a workplace program. In September, she entered Gree as a fresh graduate and became Dong Mingzhu’s secretary.
From the live video of Meng Yutong, her scope of work includes arranging itineraries for Dong Mingzhu, producing PPT, receiving interviews, etc…
Recently, when Dong Mingzhu introduced Meng Yutong to the outside world at the China Manufacturing Leaders Summit, he bluntly said that she would train her as the “next Dong Mingzhu.”
This sentence made Meng Yutong unexpectedly popular. The topic “22-year-old girl becomes Dong Mingzhu’s secretary” and “Dong Mingzhu chooses the successor of 22-year-old college graduates” once appeared on Weibo hot search.
On the Douyin platform, “Meng Yutong Morita” gained more than 900,000 followers in a week. As of the 25th, the number of “Meng Yutong Morita” Douyin fans reached 1.145 million, Weibo fans totaled 161,000, and Xiaohongshu fans totaled 435,000.
Meng Yutong said on Weibo on the 11th that she is just an ordinary migrant worker and she is just very lucky to have such a great opportunity.
Dong Mingzhu responded that to train Meng Yutong into the second Dong Mingzhu, everyone seems to think that she will be the chairman and president in the future, but she is not. Gree needs countless Dong Mingzhu to build such a culture.
Dong Mingzhu was accused of incubating Internet celebrities by himself
While Meng Yutong’s popularity increased greatly, the media revealed what Li Guoqing, the former CEO of Dangdang.com, had said in the live broadcast. He said that Dong Mingzhu wants to train a female secretary to become the second Dong Mingzhu. The purpose is to bring goods live. Incubate your own internet celebrities.
On November 22, Meng Yutong released a video on a Douyin account called “Pearl Yutong Selection”, officially starting his career with goods. As of the 26th, the account has released a total of 4 videos, 3 of which are videos of Meng Yutong’s delivery. In another video, Meng Yutong said that “Gree Electric’s products will be shared on this account”.
The avatar of the account is a photo of Dong Mingzhu and Meng Yutong. The account is authenticated as “Gree E-Commerce Co., Ltd.”. There is also a store named “GREE Gree Small Appliance Flagship Store” that is bound to the account. 22 items including purifiers and rice cookers.
At present, the account has 23,000 fans, and the average number of likes for each video is 4,000. However, the store has 22 products on the shelves, and only two have been sold.
Gree Electric’s stock price continues to fall
Kuai Technology reported on the 26th that although Gree’s news including Dong Mingzhu and Meng Yutong has been frequently searched for, in the capital market, affected by multiple factors such as performance decline, Gree’s share price has continued to fall, with a cumulative decline of 38.32% this year.
According to the report, the outside world lamented Li Guoqing’s prediction of the popularity of Gree’s female secretary, and was also analyzing the anxiety behind Gree’s new actions and the continued decline in stock prices.
According to public information, Dong Mingzhu has personally played live broadcasts since 2020, and the cumulative sales of 5 live broadcasts exceeded 17.8 billion. In the same year, Gree Electric’s online retail accounted for the proportion of retail sales in the overall home appliance market, which increased from 41.17% in 2019 to 50.4%.
However, since the second half of 2020, due to the soaring prices of bulk commodities such as copper, steel, and plastics, Gree Electric’s stock price has been falling all the way due to the impact of rising raw material prices. In just one year, the market value of Gree Electric has evaporated by nearly 200 billion yuan (RMB, the same below).
On October 27 this year, Gree Electric disclosed its financial report for the first three quarters, with total operating income of 47 billion yuan, a year-on-year decline of 15%, and net profit of 6.188 billion yuan, a year-on-year decline of 15.66%.
“21st Century Business Herald” quoted the analysis of private equity sources as saying that Gree Electric is currently facing a continuous downturn in upstream real estate, and its growth has encountered a ceiling problem.
Editor in charge: Lin Congwen
.