On December 14, according to video reports released by multiple media, Dong Mingzhu, chairman and president of Gree Electric (SZ000651, stock price 33.14 yuan, market value 186.6 billion yuan), mentioned Meng Yutong again when delivering a speech at the company’s 2023 college student induction ceremony. "After several months of internship, I was the only one (the intern who stayed). Among the nine people, I chose one to stay and keep her. I hope she can grow up, so I said you should be my secretary. As a secretary, you can't even write a single article. I don't know what kind of secretary you are, but with the help of our platform, you become an Internet celebrity."
"So we can no longer tolerate such people in Gree, so we expel her. You just make a little more money today. I think money is necessary, but it is not the pursuit of our dreams, but the result of our struggle." Dong Mingzhu said.
In May this year, "Internet celebrity" Meng Yutong's resignation from Gree Electric Appliances sparked heated discussions across the Internet. Later, it was reported that Meng Yutong did not resign voluntarily, but was fired for violating company discipline. The reason was that she often missed work to participate in business activities and take on private work during her tenure at the company. After talking to her at the company, she continued to carry out related activities without improvement.
After Meng Yutong resigned, Dong Mingzhu commented on Meng Yutong many times in interviews or public occasions. As of press time of the "Daily Economic News" reporter, Gree Electric has not responded to Dong Mingzhu's internal evaluation of Meng Yutong within the company.
Dong Mingzhu angrily criticized Meng Yutong within the company
According to excerpts of Dong Mingzhu's speech at Gree Electric's 2023 college student induction ceremony quoted by many media, Dong Mingzhu's words confirmed that Meng Yutong was fired from the company. She also said that Meng Yutong "couldn't even write a single article" as a secretary and became an Internet celebrity with the help of Gree's platform. "We can no longer tolerate such people in Gree." According to Jiemian News, the original blogger has deleted the video.
In July 2021, Meng Yutong participated in the workplace reality show "We Are New in the Workplace" and was appreciated by Dong Mingzhu. He got the final opportunity to become a regular employee and joined Gree Electric Appliances. At first, the department where Meng Yutong joined was the "President's Office". In November 2021, Meng Yutong conducted his first live broadcast in the Gree Electric Appliances official live broadcast room. The live broadcast lasted for 4 hours, with a total number of viewers of more than 113,000, and a single sales volume of approximately 620,000 yuan.
When they first joined the company, Meng Yutong and Dong Mingzhu had a very close relationship. In December 2021, Dong Mingzhu appeared at the China Manufacturing Leadership Summit and said that she would train Meng Yutong into the "second Dong Mingzhu".
As of April 1 this year, Dong Mingzhu’s partner for her live broadcast debut in 2023 has become Zhang Qi, and Meng Yutong also participated in the live broadcast at the same time. At that time, Dong Mingzhu took the initiative to reveal that Meng Yutong was no longer her secretary. "She is now making videos. So she gradually (discovered that she is) more suitable for this in the process." On April 8, Meng Yutong posted on Xiaohongshu that she was "now equivalent to a 'rotation' in the marketing department."
On May 11, Meng Yutong publicly responded to his resignation through a video, and mentioned the salary situation: "Actually, my salary is the same as that of Gree's fresh graduates, basically in the range of 5,000 to 10,000 yuan."
On November 6, Meng Yutong became a hot search again because Dong Mingzhu responded to the question of "Internet celebrity employees" in an interview with Guangdong TV's "Financial Eyes": "Your true quality has nothing to do with Internet celebrities... Some people think that they use an Internet celebrity to consider themselves valuable, and that is the source of no foundation. You cannot be on the Gree platform and then go out to advertise. This is definitely illegal." This is considered by the outside world to be Dong Mingzhu's first response to Meng Yutong's resignation.
After Meng Yutong resigned, his and "Gree Pearl Selection" accounts both increased in popularity
"Daily Economic News" reporter noted that as of now, it has been more than seven months since Meng Yutong resigned from Gree Electric Appliances. During this period, Meng Yutong appeared on the hot search list from time to time. After leaving Gree Electric, Meng Yutong remained highly active on Xiaohongshu, and he still updated many short advertising videos on Xiaohongshu. The most recent hot search was when she revealed on her personal account on Xiaohongshu that she was giving a speech at Tsinghua University’s Schwarzman College, saying frankly that she “longs for storms and is ready to be reborn.”
According to a previous report by "Daily Economic News", as of May 11, 2023, Meng Yutong's Xiaohongshu account has 1.204 million fans, his Douyin personal account has 1.958 million fans, and his Weibo personal account also has 238,000 fans.
Seven months later, as of December 14, 2023, the number of fans of Meng Yutong's Xiaohongshu account has increased to 1.341 million; the number of fans of Meng Yutong's personal account has increased to 2.17 million, and the number of fans on her personal Weibo has also increased to 298,000.
At the same time, the number of fans of Gree E-commerce's main live broadcast account on Douyin platform "Gree Pearl Selection" (previously named "Pearl Yutong Selection") has also increased from 2.551 million on May 11 to 2.939 million today.
As of press time, Gree Electric Appliances has not made any comment on Dong Mingzhu’s internal evaluation of Meng Yutong within the company. On December 21 last year, Gree Electric invested 50 million yuan to establish Zhuhai Gree Digital Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Gree Digital). The company's business scope includes personal Internet live broadcast services. This has been interpreted by the outside world as Gree Electric’s intention to increase its live broadcast sales.
The reporter also learned that from December 14th to 15th, Gree Electric is jointly holding the "Douyin Matrix Live Storm Training" event with Toutiaoyi. The event poster shows that Gree Electric has cultivated millions of anchors in the home appliance category. Su Yanhan is the official anchor of Gree Electric Appliances Headquarters and has been involved in Gree e-commerce live broadcasts for more than three years. Her personal single-day sales GMV (total merchandise transaction volume) exceeds 2 million yuan.