Koolearn
Livestream e-commerce retailer under New Oriental, formerly the Koolearn education brand.
On the record
Checkpoint: FY2026 full-year earnings covering post-exodus GMV and membership trends
The call
East Buy is fighting AI-run rivals for viewers and Douyin for distribution, with a shrinking human-anchor model caught between both.
East Buy sells products through live video streams on the app Douyin, where real people show and sell items to viewers, but most of its sales come through Douyin itself, which takes a cut and can push its own sellers instead. The hard part: AI-powered computer hosts are replacing human livestream workers at companies like Baidu and JD.com, doing the job for one-tenth the cost and actually selling more stuff. East Buy is also trying to copy a membership warehouse model like Sam's Club, but companies 30 times bigger already own that space. The one thing that could matter is whether East Buy can grow its own brand and private-label products while keeping its remaining human hosts, or if it will just keep shrinking as platforms and AI take over.
Why
01
AI pressure: AI digital-human livestream hosts from Baidu, JD.com, and Tencent Cloud. AI hosts now sell more than human anchors at about a tenth of the cost, hitting East Buy's own talent model hardest. Could AI do the core job? Yes, likely.
02
Bigger players: Douyin, JD.com, and Sam's Club China. Douyin supplies 70% of GMV and competes directly, while Sam's Club China dwarfs East Buy's new membership push. Could a giant copy it? Yes, easily.
03
What protects it. Private label goods, now 52.8% of GMV, give it some product control Douyin doesn't fully own.
What would change this call
East Buy's 21 August 2026 FY2026 earnings show private-label GMV trend post-April anchor exodus. Reveals whether losing four anchors in two days permanently dented sales or was absorbed.
Paid app membership count in FY2026 report versus 264,300 (mid-2025) and 240,000 (April 2026). Shows whether the membership base is stabilizing or continuing to shrink.
Any disclosed deployment of AI digital-human hosts by East Buy versus JD's 80,000+ AI-host merchants. Indicates whether East Buy is adopting the cost-cutting technology reshaping rivals or falling behind.
Paid app membership count in FY2026 report versus 264,300 (mid-2025) and 240,000 (April 2026). Shows whether the membership base is stabilizing or continuing to shrink.
Any disclosed deployment of AI digital-human hosts by East Buy versus JD's 80,000+ AI-host merchants. Indicates whether East Buy is adopting the cost-cutting technology reshaping rivals or falling behind.
Key numbers
- FY2025 revenue fell 32.7% to RMB4.39B
- 4 core anchors quit within 2 days
- JD AI hosts cut costs to 10% of human hosts
Named risks
- Core human-host revenue model being automated by AI digital humans at rival platforms.
- Roughly 70% GMV dependency on Douyin, a platform East Buy does not control.
- Continued talent exodus and leadership instability after April 2026 anchor resignations.
- New national livestream e-commerce regulation effective January 2026 adds compliance friction.
- Paid membership growth appears stalled or reversed between mid-2025 and April 2026.
Rivals, as read in July 2026
| Rival | Direction | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Sam's Club China | losing to | RMB140B 2025 sales and 10M+ members vs East Buy's RMB4.4B and ~240k members (Dec 2025) |
| Douyin (as distribution platform and competitor) | losing to | 70% GMV dependency on Douyin, which also hosts rival merchants (Aug 2025) |
| JD.com | losing to | 80,000+ merchants using AI hosts at 10% cost, outperforming human hosts (Jun 2025) |
| Dong Yuhui / Time with Yuhui | losing to | Ex-star host's independent venture drew audience away after July 2024 exit |
| Baidu | contesting | AI digital-human host generated RMB55M in single broadcast, directly threatens hosting model (Jun 2025) |
| Pang Dong Lai | losing to | RMB23.5B 2025 sales, up 38.71% y/y, in same retail category (Dec 2025) |
Questions people ask
- Is Koolearn (East Buy) profitable in 2026?
- East Buy Holding, the renamed Koolearn entity, saw FY2025 revenue fall about 32.7% to RMB4.39 billion and net income drop roughly 78% versus FY2024, per financials as of 31 May 2025. TTM revenue was still down about 29.6% y/y as of mid-2026, showing continued profitability pressure.
- Could AI replace East Buy's livestream hosts?
- Yes, this is an active threat: JD.com deployed AI digital-human hosts for over 80,000 merchants at roughly 10% of human-host cost, outperforming 80% of average human hosts as of June 2025, while Baidu's AI twin generated RMB55 million GMV in one June 2025 broadcast, directly threatening East Buy's human-host model.
- Who owns Koolearn/East Buy?
- East Buy Holding Limited (HKEX: 1797), formerly Koolearn Technology Holding Limited (renamed February 2023), is a subsidiary of New Oriental Education & Technology Group. Founder Yu Minhong controls a stake via the Tigerstep entity and sold 16.7 million personal shares in March 2025.
- Is Koolearn the same company as East Buy?
- Yes. The HKEX-listed entity formally changed its name from Koolearn Technology Holding Limited to East Buy Holding Limited in February 2023 as it pivoted from online education to livestream e-commerce, though the koolearn.com education site still operates as a small residual segment as of January 2025.
- Who is East Buy's biggest competitor?
- Sam's Club China, which posted over RMB140 billion in 2025 sales with 10 million-plus paid members versus East Buy's roughly RMB4.4 billion revenue and about 240,000 paid app members as of April 2026, a scale gap of over 30 times.
- What happened after Dong Yuhui left East Buy?
- After star livestreamer Dong Yuhui departed in July 2024, East Buy divested his 'Time with Yuhui' spin-off for RMB76.6 million, and Douyin paid orders fell roughly 50%, from 181.1 million to 91.6 million year over year, according to a July 2024 report.
Timeline
- 2026-04-27Four core livestream anchors resign within two days amid CEO restructuring
- 2026-01-07China's national livestream e-commerce regulation takes effect
- 2025-11-01Sun Jin becomes CEO, replacing founder Yu Minhong
- 2025-08-26Report shows Douyin is approximately 70% of East Buy GMV
- 2025-05-31FY2025 revenue reported at RMB4.39 billion, down 32.7% y/y
- 2025-03-01Founder Yu Minhong sells 16.7 million personal shares
- 2024-07-25Star host Dong Yuhui departs; Douyin paid orders roughly halve
- 2023-02-01Listed entity renamed from Koolearn to East Buy Holding Limited
- 2019-03-28Koolearn lists on Hong Kong Stock Exchange as ticker 1797
Revision history
22 July 2026
First assessed. Little protection left. The text above is fixed as of this date and is not edited afterwards.
In the same band
Sources
- East Buy Holding Ltd Stock Price (2026-03-20)
- Koolearn/East Buy Financial Statements (2026-07-10)
- East Buy Holding Limited Stock Price & Overview
- China's top live-streaming influencer Dong Yuhui departs East Buy (2024-07-25)
- East Buy Faces Talent Exodus (2026-04-27)
- Work in progress: East Buy reinvents itself, again (2025-08-26)
- 1797 Number of Employees
- AI livestreamers blow human hosts out of the water (2025-06-19)
- JD.com Leverages AI Digital Humans for Live Streaming
- 24/7 AI Digital Human Live Streaming (2026-04-26)
- China Retail & E-commerce Weekly Update
- East Buy Holding Ltd. Profile (2025-10-23)