The next stop for internet moguls like Yu Minhong, Li Guoqing, Zhang Chaoyang is to strive in the live broadcasting room.

"Life is short and fleeting, always rushing in the pursuit of fame and fortune."

[36Kr Peking] Reported on May 7th (by Lv Xinyi)

Having graduated from Peking University successively, then going public in America successively, the life experiences of Yu Minhong and Li Guoqing are quite similar. Even facing adversity now, they offer solutions that are almost identical. Traveling through wind and rain, Li Guoqing, who understands fate, and Yu Minhong, in his senior years, share their thoughts in a live stream, talking about the journey they have taken.

On April 26, 2020, Li Guoqing and five others broke into the Dangdang.com office building, staging a stamp-grabbing battle, which can be regarded as one of the most unforgettable scenes in the history of internet commerce. Compared to Li Guoqing, who stood at the center of public opinion, Yu Minhong held ten consecutive work meetings on New Oriental management that week. Amid the pandemic impact, he tried to help New Oriental do certain things in an uncertain situation.

In the same April, they faced different life situations. However, two years later, they coincidentally met in a live stream.

On April 22, 2022, in a live stream, Yu Minhong connected with Li Guoqing. Yu Minhong mentioned that he wanted to chat with Li Guoqing purely, but Li Guoqing quickly brought out books related to children's education, attempting to promote them. Li Guoqing's strong sales pitch made Yu Minhong uncomfortable, as he reminded Li Guoqing that there are restrictions on promoting educational products online. However, Li Guoqing did not heed Yu Minhong's advice and continued to search for suitable book merchant links, prompting Yu Minhong to say, "Don't do it."

However, Li Guoqing did not heed Yu Minhong's advice and continued to search for suitable book merchant links, prompting Yu Minhong to say, "Don't do it."

Li Guoqing's vigorous efforts in livestreaming sales made it difficult for Yu Minhong, this 'new anchor', to adapt. However, behind Li Guoqing's actions also hides his concerns. After leaving Dangdang, Li Guoqing urgently needs the next entrepreneurial project to improve his current situation. In fact, Yu Minhong is also facing the darkest moment of his life. He needs to help New Oriental out of its predicament, rescue its cash flow, and launch a new Oriental defense battle through livestreaming sales.

In fact, it is not only Li Guoqing and Yu Minhong who need livestreaming, but also many business tycoons are chasing after the trend. In the future, more tycoons will also join livestreaming. Compared to internet newcomers who are retreating, the tycoons of the first half are still active in the public eye. Standing at the forefront of the livestreaming trend, they are doing it either for self-rescue or out of personal feelings. Their goal may be different, but what is the same is that livestreaming has opened a new chapter in their business journey.

Liang Jianzhang opens the door for big shots to 'part-time' in livestreaming rooms.

In March 2020, after communicating with the team, Liang Jianzhang, who had previously faded out of Ctrip, decided to personally get involved to rescue Ctrip's dismal Q1 performance. At that time, Ctrip told Lieyun Network, 'Liang Jianzhang believes that the current epidemic period is particularly suitable for tourism livestreaming, which may also be a marketing method in the long run. At that time, there was no atmosphere in the industry where founders would participate in livestreams. In order to save Ctrip, Liang Jianzhang resolutely decided to 'try something new'.

However, Liang Jianzhang, sitting in the livestream room for the first time, seemed a bit nervous. With his years of experience in the tourism industry, he quickly adjusted his mindset and spoke eloquently in the livestream room.

Internet tycoons, with their own personal IP, the effect of Liang Jianzhang's personal participation was directly reflected in the sales that evening. With 510,000 viewers in one hour, the sales exceeded 10 million. At that time, Ctrip mentioned that this data had already exceeded expectations.

Just like livestreaming, Liang Jianzhang tried every means to increase the livestream's popularity. Since formal attire does not fit the livestream tone, he simply started cosplaying in the livestream room, changing outfits based on the environment's characteristics. From daily outfits to anime styles and even ancient costumes, each of Liang Jianzhang's appearances was surprising. During the third livestream, at the filming location of 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' in Anji, Huzhou, Liang Jianzhang cosplayed as 'Bai Niangzi' and did a livestream sales. This livestream propelled Liang Jianzhang's livestream room to fame, spreading the trending topic of 'Liang Jianzhang strives to save Ctrip'.

Liang Jianzhang's 'striving' indirectly reflects his 'having no choice'.

The impact of the epidemic caught Ctrip off guard. According to the Q1 financial report for 2020, Ctrip's net revenue in the first quarter was 4.7 billion RMB, a 42% year-on-year decrease. Due to factors such as user cancellations and compensation caused by the epidemic, Ctrip lost 1.2 billion RMB. With such a large-scale impact, Liang Jianzhang had to take emergency measures, and the facts proved that his actions were correct. After completing the live broadcast at the Yue Rong Zhuang, many hotels in Huzhou were fully booked for the Qingming Festival. After normalizing live broadcasts, Ctrip achieved profitability in the third quarter of 2020.

In a sense, Liang Jianzhang opened the door for big shots to help in live broadcasts.

Dong Mingzhu saw the feasibility of live broadcasts to provide emergency assistance, but she did not let go like Liang Jianzhang. On the evening of her first live broadcast, Dong Mingzhu took netizens to visit Gree's technology exhibition hall, introducing the featured appliances, with no interaction during the event. This live broadcast did not seem to be about selling products, but rather a showcase of Gree's manufacturing prowess.

In that live broadcast, Dong Mingzhu also gained attention, but the reason she stood out was due to the frequent lags in the live broadcast, which resulted in poor conversion rates. Data from the new Douyin platform showed a cumulative viewership of 4.31 million that night, with a peak of 0.2163 million online viewers. The total sales of goods amounted to 0.2253 million RMB, and the highest-selling product was the new crown air purifier, with an estimated sale of 3 units totaling 0.0362 million RMB.

However, she did not back down. In 2020, Dong Mingzhu conducted a total of 13 live broadcasts, with sales exceeding 47.6 billion RMB. In these live broadcasts, Dong Mingzhu not only helped Gree get through a difficult Q1 but also brought Gree closer to the audience. The value of this cannot be measured solely by GMV, as it represents more of an intangible corporate value.

Shortly after Dong Mingzhu's live broadcast that generated sales of 0.7 billion RMB, Baidu's Li Yanhong also entered the scene. However, Li Yanhong's assistance was not to save Baidu's existing business, but to help Baidu explore new ventures. During that live broadcast, Li Yanhong did not sell products but invited Fan Deng to discuss books and cultural knowledge. At that time, Baidu's Executive Vice President Shen Dou had expressed that Baidu would actively promote its live broadcasting business in 2020.

Li Yanhong's next live broadcast was for this purpose. During the live broadcast, he openly stated, "I hope that in the future, more and more people will conduct live broadcasts on Baidu, and it will be feasible for someone to sell products on the Baidu app in the future."

The value of this live broadcast was reflected in Baidu's stock price. After Li Yanhong's debut live broadcast, Baidu's stock price continuously rose from the opening price of $95.18, with an increase of over 4.3%. Baidu's market cap surged by nearly 12 billion RMB overnight. Within less than 2 hours, "Li Yanhong's book list" sold 1000 copies in offline bookstores.

From this timeline, the entry of Liang Jianzhang is like a key that allows business tycoons to see the emergency of live streaming for sales and the opening up of new business opportunities, prompting them to join. However, on the same timeline, there is another group of tycoons who choose to start a new business in live streaming rooms.

Luo Yonghao showed the big shots the opportunity to make quick money through live streaming.

After receiving report after report about live streaming for sales, Luo Yonghao couldn't sit still.

At the time, with a debt of six billion on his shoulders, in order to repay it quickly, he had to temporarily leave his beloved technology industry and join the live streaming for sales trend. In other words, for Luo Yonghao, live streaming was more like starting a business.

On April 1, 2020, Luo Yonghao's first live broadcast arrived as scheduled. Unlike other live broadcasts, he presented using an acrylic PPT board, making it more like a product launch event. With his own topics, Luo Yonghao, unable to meet everyone's expectations in the first live broadcast, made frequent mistakes in the live stream, such as slip of the tongue, incorrect prices, etc.

Luo Yonghao is an entrepreneur. He said, 'Making friends in addition to selling goods will not stop at MCN institutions.' 'Essentially, we treat it as a serious business we are doing.' Temporarily setting aside his ambitions in the field of technology entrepreneurship, Luo Yonghao started a business in the live streaming room, making friends and gradually industrializing and corporatizing, spawning numerous live streaming matrices. Luo Yonghao also calls himself one of the four kings of the live streaming world.

After nearly two years of live streaming for sales, Luo Yonghao's six billion debt has almost been paid off. He is gradually fading out of live streaming rooms to prepare for a new round of technology entrepreneurship. However, his live streaming over the past two years has provided a reference for future tycoons, perhaps live streaming rooms are also fertile ground for entrepreneurship.

When Luo Yonghao vigorously promotes products in the live streaming room, Li Guoqing stepped forward to criticize him, 'If an entrepreneur does self-media, earns advertising fees, or promotes products, I think it's absurd.'

When Luo Yonghao celebrated his first year of live streaming, Li Guoqing, who had criticized him before, ironically started his own live streaming. After Li Guoqing criticized Luo Yonghao's approach as absurd, the sales of his first live broadcast were less than 0.2 million, a difference of several orders of magnitude from Luo Yonghao's first live broadcast sales exceeding one billion.

However, Li Guoqing did not get stuck in the disappointment of the first live broadcast sales, bluntly calling it his third entrepreneurial endeavor.

Next, Li Guoqing continued to 'challenge' Luo Yonghao in the live broadcast room, stating that he does not need to repay debts and that live streaming is not for making money. Initially, he couldn't put down his pride in the live broadcast room. He initially positioned the account for sharing entrepreneurial knowledge, and most of the videos were answering entrepreneurial doubts from the perspective of a startup mentor. Inside the showcase were books on Li Guoqing's entrepreneurial philosophy.

However, this path seemed unfeasible. Li Guoqing's breakthrough into internet stardom was with baijiu(chinese liquor), which is currently the main force in Li Guoqing's live streaming sales. According to Xnewu data, the top category for Li Guoqing’s product sales is still beverages. At the end of last year, Li Guoqing set a target of 3 billion in annual sales for himself, but it seems difficult to achieve based on current data. From the end of September to the end of October last year, Li Guoqing's live broadcast sales in 30 days amounted to 18.9052 million. From the end of March to the end of April this year, Li Guoqing's sales from nearly 30 live broadcasts were only 6.33 million, far from the level at the end of last year.

However, Li Guoqing seems to be very passionate about this entrepreneurial endeavor. He once warned Yu Minhong from an experienced perspective, 'Be careful, this field is very deep! Don't risk all your past accomplishments.'

At the time Li Guoqing warned Yu Minhong, New Oriental, pressured by policy changes, was forced to transition. On November 7th, Yu Minhong announced plans to establish a large agricultural platform and, along with hundreds of teachers, help sell agricultural products through live streaming to support rural revitalization efforts. He also founded the brand East Buy.

Yu Minhong is the one least suited for the role of a live streamer among the three. During his live broadcasts, Yu Minhong comes off more like a teacher, focusing more on sharing cultural knowledge behind the products rather than highlighting selling points. He corrects the English pronunciation of the hosts in the live stream and emphasizes that they are an English institution and the pronunciation must be accurate.

Initially, Yu Minhong's live broadcasts had a high unit price, and the audience was not receptive. However, after continuous adjustments by the team, the recent 30-day sales of the East Buy account amounted to 13.89 million, far exceeding Li Guoqing's sales.

Compared to the emergency rescue missions of Liang Jianzhang and Dong Mingzhu, for Luo Yonghao, Li Guoqing, and Yu Minhong, this small live streaming room is their new business journey. Business tycoons who have already reached the peak, once again standing at the forefront of the era, this is also a kind of entrepreneurial spirit that is not afraid to start over.

Zhang Chaoyang and other big shots who are soaring high and selling skills in live streaming rooms

Compared to the business tycoons carrying missions in the live streaming rooms, there are also some big shots who are 'letting themselves go' in the live streaming rooms.

In terms of timeline, Zhang Chaoyang is one of the earliest business tycoons to join the live streaming industry. In 2016, Zhang Chaoyang's English classes began, and he can be described as a hard worker, conducting an average of 200 classes per year.

Then in 2020, the first year of live streaming by business tycoons began, and Zhang Chaoyang also took further action. In November 2021, he started his physics class on Sohu.com, almost at the same time, Zhang Chaoyang expressed his intention to promote Sohu Video to build a knowledge live streaming platform. It can be seen that Zhang Chaoyang also aims to help Sohu gain market share in the knowledge live streaming track through his own traffic.

However, unlike Liang Jianzhang and Dong Mingzhu, Zhang Chaoyang, although equally carrying a mission, completely 'let himself go' with his physics class because it is too hardcore.

The content of Zhang Chaoyang's physics class starts with classical physics, then transitions to modern physics, and gradually delves into the field of quantum mechanics. During this period, he explained quantumization problems from Schrödinger's equation to the harmonic oscillator model, which was too professional and discouraged many viewers in the live streaming room.

However, Zhang Chaoyang seems not to care. Being truly passionate about physics, he is unwilling to lower his professional standards for traffic, and he continues to share his beloved professional knowledge. In the live streaming room, Zhang Chaoyang seems tireless, like a fish immersed in the ocean of knowledge, finding the most suitable habitat for himself.

NetEase, as one of the four major portal websites like Sohu, also saw Ding Lei appearing in live broadcasts. However, Ding Lei did not choose his own live streaming platform, instead embracing Kuaishou and Douyin successively, promoting products through live broadcasts with the entire NetEase ecosystem. During his debut live stream on Kuaishou, Ding Lei was also "carefree", happily tasting food in the live room.

In the past two years, many industry leaders have entered live streaming rooms, where they have found new value. Undoubtedly, there will be more industry leaders stepping into live streaming rooms in the future. For example, Tan Ming from Vancl has recently interacted with Li Guoqing twice or appeared in Luo Yonghao's live stream. Facing the current changes in e-commerce platforms, Tan Ming may also personally engage in live streaming activities in the future.

Regardless of their initial intentions, industry pioneers from the previous eras meet in live streaming rooms. In fact, whenever any industry leader appears in a live stream, there will always be negative voices from the public, with people generally believing that stepping into live streaming means leaving past glory behind. However, the criticism is also out of respect for their past achievements, suggesting that they should not stop there. However, in the journey of life, there is no 'should' or 'shouldn't', as expressed by Yu Minhong: 'Life is fleeting, always rushing in the pursuit of fame and fortune.' Are these industry giants who are boldly venturing into new territories not embarking on a new journey?

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