HONG KONG -- A few short months ago, international investors ascribed a valuation of over $30 billion to New Oriental Education & Technology, one of the giants of China's for-profit tutoring sector, excited over the prospects for the growing and lucrative market.
Yet in a livestream this month on Douyin, the domestic version of TikTok, New Oriental founder Yu Minhong announced a startling pivot. He and several hundred of the company's teachers would henceforth be selling agricultural products via an online platform; the bulk of the tutoring business would be shut down.
