Former online education services provider Koolearn Technology Holding Ltd. (1797.HK) is getting an important lesson from its famous founder Yu Minhong, who preached “the pursuit of hope in a sea of despair will eventually lead to a great things.”
The online arm of New Oriental Education & Technology Group Inc. (EDU.US; 9901.HK), one of China’s oldest providers of after-school tutoring for K-12 students, was just one of many private educators thrown into crisis in July 2021 when Beijing launched a brutal crackdown that outlawed most of their business. But just a year later, Koolearn has found new gold in e-commerce livestreaming, making it a superstar among Hong Kong stocks over the past year.
Koolearn was split off from New Oriental in 2019 and listed separately in Hong Kong that year, carving out a lucrative niche by offering preschool, K-12 and university online education services for students whose parents wanted to give them an edge in China’s ultra-competitive education system. It was already grappling with fierce competition when the launch of the crackdown, known locally as the “double reduction” policy, forced it to abandon its core K-9 tutoring operations.