Former Executives Start New Business: East Buy Suffers “Talent Departure” Pain

Introduction

On July 13, 2026, the Hong Kong stock market received news that caught investors' attention: East Buy (01797) stock price plunged over 7% intraday, at press time reported at HK$20.7, with turnover of HK$235 million. The direct trigger for this stock price anomaly was not a major flaw in the company's fundamentals, but news that a former core team set up a new business. According to Blue Whale News, former CEO Sun Dongxu of East Buy and former anchors Mingming (Shi Ming), Tianquan (Guo Tianquan) jointly established “Beautiful Tomorrow (Beijing) Technology Co., Ltd.” and officially launched an official account. These three were all key figures in East Buy's livestream rooms. Now joining hands to start a business will undoubtedly pose a dual test to East Buy's current operational pattern and market confidence.

In the increasingly fierce competition of livestream e-commerce industry, core talent leaving to form competing entities is not an isolated case. From Meione behind Li Jiaqi, to Xinxuan of Xinba, to the “split and game” between Dong Yuhui and East Buy, the distribution of interests and power struggle between anchors and platforms have always been persistent problems in the industry. This “second entrepreneurship” by Sun Dongxu and others not only reflects the deep dilemma of talent binding mechanisms in livestream e-commerce MCN institutions but may also signal that East Buy, after Dong Yuhui's independence, faces another shockwave of key talent outflow.

Event Review: From “Golden Partners” to “Beautiful Tomorrow”

Business Logic of the Trio Founding Company

Public information shows that “Beautiful Tomorrow (Beijing) Technology Co., Ltd.” was established on July 10, 2026. Registered capital and specific business scope await further disclosure, but the shareholder list on Qichacha App is enough to shake the market: Sun Dongxu, Shi Ming (Mingming), Guo Tianquan (Tianquan) are listed as shareholders. Sun Dongxu served as Executive Director and CEO of East Buy, a key operator in New Oriental Online's transformation to livestream e-commerce, who faded from core management due to the 2023 “small essay” incident and management style controversy. Shi Ming and Guo Tianquan were core anchors in East Buy's early rise, accumulating huge fan bases with precise sales talk and affability.

These three had formed a unique synergy within East Buy: Sun Dongxu was responsible for strategic decisions and supply chain management, while Mingming and Tianquan were responsible for front-end traffic conversion. Now the three jointly establish a new company, meaning to integrate the traffic appeal of the front-end with operational experience from the back-end, forming a replica of the “old boss model.” From a business logic perspective, this is not simple “re-employment” but a systematic reorganization of key elements in the livestream e-commerce supply chain - from product selection, livestreaming, to logistics and after-sales, the trio possess full-chain practical capabilities.

Immediate Impact on East Buy Stock Price

After the news, East Buy's stock price fell sharply, with the drop once exceeding 8%. Investors' core concerns center on two points: First, continuous outflow of core talent will weaken East Buy's livestream content production ability and fan stickiness. After Dong Yuhui independently operated “Together with Yuhui” by the end of 2024, East Buy's livestream anchor matrix was already under pressure to “de-head.” Now the collective departure of two iconic anchors and the former CEO may cause fragmentation in audience perception of the East Buy brand. Second, the new company “Beautiful Tomorrow” will likely quickly enter livestream e-commerce business, and its product selection and target customer base may highly overlap with East Buy, forming direct competition. This combination of “former executives + former anchors” is seen by the capital market as a sword of Damocles hanging over East Buy.

Industry Ecosystem: Livestream E-commerce "Talent Curse" and MCN Governance Dilemma

Tension Between Anchor Personal IP and Platform Brand

Livestream e-commerce is essentially a “personality-based e-commerce.” The anchor's personal charm and trust complement the platform brand, but also bury risks: once core anchors leave, platform traffic may flow away. Since East Buy went viral in 2022, it has always tried to reduce dependence on a single anchor through matrix and de-heading strategies. However, from Dong Yuhui's independence to the departure of Mingming and Tianquan, it precisely proves the difficulty of “de-heading” - when the bargaining power of an anchor's personal IP exceeds the resources the platform can provide, cracks become inevitable.

Sun Dongxu starting a business with anchors as CEO tears open another wound in MCN internal governance: how should the interest binding between management and anchors be designed? If management itself is the anchor's “boss,” this superior-subordinate relationship often conflicts with the democratic atmosphere of the livestream room. If management becomes equal partners with anchors, internal power distribution faces a new game. East Buy previously tried to bind core talent through equity incentives, profit sharing optimization, etc., but clearly for anchors like Mingming and Tianquan who have a fan base and participated in the early entrepreneurial journey, independent entrepreneurship is far more attractive than staying in an already mature platform system.

Will “Beautiful Tomorrow” Change Industry Landscape?

From a competitive standpoint, “Beautiful Tomorrow” will hardly shake East Buy's foundation in the short term. East Buy relies on the New Oriental Group's brand endorsement, self-operated product supply chain advantages, and differentiated “knowledge-based sales” label, building a certain moat. However, it cannot be ignored that the fan profiles Mingming and Tianquan accumulated in East Buy's livestream room highly overlap - they both served consumer groups with high demands for knowledge content and a pursuit of cost-effective agricultural products. This means “Beautiful Tomorrow” is likely to enter from East Buy's most adept categories such as agricultural products and books, using more flexible pricing strategies and more approachable interaction modes to divert original users.

Moreover, Sun Dongxu's experience in supply chain management should not be underestimated. During his tenure at East Buy, he led the strategic transformation from consignment to self-operations, driving the construction of warehousing and logistics systems. Now replicating these experiences to “Beautiful Tomorrow” will inevitably shorten the new company's growth curve. For investors, this may mean that competition facing East Buy will upgrade from “fan competition at the anchor level” to “head-on confrontation in supply chain efficiency.”

East Buy's Response: Strategic Choices Amid Pain

Short-Term Stabilization and Long-Term Model Reconstruction

Facing the stock price plunge and market doubts, East Buy management needs to produce practical solutions. In the short term, the company can take the following measures: first, accelerate anchor team building through internal selection and external recruitment to quickly replenish high-quality anchors, avoiding a “vacuum period” in livestream content. Second, strengthen fan operations through membership systems, community marketing, etc., to enhance user stickiness and reduce churn due to individual anchor departures. Third, legal measures: if East Buy signed non-compete agreements with Sun Dongxu and others, it should assert rights according to law to prevent the new company from using the original platform's business secrets to compete.

However, from a long-term institutional design perspective, East Buy needs to reflect on its talent governance structure. The peculiarity of the livestream e-commerce industry determines that “people” are the core asset, and traditional employment relationships are no longer suitable. Referring to international experience, top MCN institutions usually establish “partnerships” or “studio systems” with anchors, giving anchors sufficient decision-making power and revenue sharing, while achieving interest binding through brand licensing and supply chain support. East Buy may learn from this model, providing anchors with more attractive “internal entrepreneurship” opportunities while retaining core IP, thereby slowing the pace of talent outflow.

Rational Review by Investors

From an investment perspective, East Buy's current stock price fluctuation reflects more short-term emotional impact than fundamental deterioration. The company's core indicators such as self-operated product gross margin, SKU count, and repurchase rate have not changed qualitatively, and East Buy's layout across multiple platforms like Douyin and WeChat Channels has initially formed a matrix effect. But it is undeniable that the chain reaction of talent departures may continue to ferment: on one hand, the psychological expectations of other active anchors will change, increasing internal negotiation costs; on the other hand, the secondary market's valuation logic for livestream e-commerce concept stocks is shifting from “traffic growth” to “governance stability.” East Buy needs to prove to the market that it has institutionalized capabilities to handle core team changes.

Conclusion: Livestream E-commerce Enters Era of “Organizational Power” Competition

The founding of “Beautiful Tomorrow” by Sun Dongxu, Mingming, and Tianquan is both a result of personal career choices and a microcosm of the livestream e-commerce industry evolving from barbaric growth to refined operation. As traffic dividends fade, competition among top platforms will shift from “snatching anchors” to “building systems” - whoever can establish systematic content production processes, standardized supply chain management, and sustainable talent incentives will take the lead in the next phase.

For East Buy, this is both a crisis and an opportunity to force reform. A single day's stock price decline is not scary; what is truly alarming is whether the company can find a more stable governance framework amid the pain. For the entire livestream e-commerce industry, the establishment of “Beautiful Tomorrow” may mark the beginning of a joint entrepreneurial model of “former executives + former anchors.” We will see more similar cases in the future. Investors need to get used to it and reassess the contribution and consumption of such enterprises to platform value to make more rational investment decisions.

In this era where “people” determine “things,” the endgame of livestream e-commerce will ultimately be a contest of organizational capability.