Reality TV star Meng Yutong has left Gree. A high-profile appointment in 2021, it turns out that Meng will not be “the next Dong Mingzhu.”
Photo by Fan Jianlei
By XU Shiqi
The young executive once seen as a possible successor to CEO DONG Mingzhu, has left home-appliance maker Gree Electric.
MENG Yutong joined Gree in September 2021 aged just 22, after taking part in the reality TV show “Workplace Newcomers.” Dong, one of the mentors on the show, said Meng possessed the qualities necessary to be her successor and be “the next Dong Mingzhu.”
On Wednesday, Gree issued a statement that while Meng had left the company, such “staff turnover” was nothing unusual. Meng posted on Weibo the next day and said she planned to apply for a master’s degree.
Denying rumors of a million-yuan salary, Meng started at Gree as PA to Dong, in theory managing the boss’s schedule and accompanying her wherever she went. Meng claims her monthly wage never exceeded 10,000 yuan. She also claims to have worked 21 hours a day.
Such high-profile rumors serve Gree’s purpose very well and to some extent reflect Meng’s value to the dowdy business. Meng is newsworthy. She brings glamour and youth to the company, something Gree has been living without for many years.
In November 2021, Dong and Meng appeared together in a live streaming session. While only a few more than 100,000 people tuned in, the pair managed to sell goods worth 620,000 yuan in four hours. Gree opened “Mingzhu and Yutong Selected,” an account on Douyin with a photo of the happy couple as the profile.
Peddling Gree products alongside Meng appeared to be a suboptimal use of the CEO’s time because thereafter Dong seldom turned up for streaming sessions.
But then in July last year, Meng disappeared from the live streaming sessions, also from the profile picture on the account. Dong Mingzhu now smiles alone at potential customers. At the time, Meng said she was too busy for live streaming.
With a career based on an astonishing talent for selling, Dong is, of course, taking the lead in Gree’s live-streaming endeavors. She went on a national live-streaming tour in 2020 and managed to bring in almost 50 billion yuan, but a large part of that came from Gree distributors. Other senior executives have never been seen in front of the camera.
In August last year, just after Meng was airbrushed out of the account, “Mingzhu and Yutong Selected” had 2.4 million followers. Now, “Mingzhu Selected,” has 2.5 million followers, which may be a more accurate reflection of Meng’s value to the company.
Last month, Meng told her followers that she had joined the marketing department. Dong told hers that Meng was no longer her PA and had moved on “to make videos.”
At Zhejiang University, Meng majored in Spanish but was more interested in marketing. She now has 250,000 followers on Weibo, 1.2 million on Xiaohongshu, and more than 2 million on Douyin. She has a digital market business registered under her name.
Though Meng is gone, Gree’s interest in youth continues with plans to build a live-streaming center at its Zhuhai headquarters and more recruit more anchors.
For Gree, the departure of Meng is not that important, but whether the company can find a sustainable business model without the charm of Dong Mingzhu, will be crucial.
