JD denies layoff rumors, Temu tops U.S. app download charts

[Ebrun Original] Yu Minhong’s latest response; JD denies layoff rumors; Alibaba Cloud's Chief Business Officer Cai Yinghua resigns; Temu tops 2023 U.S. app download charts.

I am Bondo Xiaobai. This is the CEO Study Room, where I have compiled a study material to help you review the most notable e-commerce events.

Alibaba e-commerce intensifies AI efforts: Taobao sets up 4 teams, international business team exceeds 100 people

Taobao Group has just streamlined its AI business, consolidating about 20 teams into 4, and internally released its own large model product "Turing". The AI team of the international digital business group currently has over 100 people.

In September of this year, Alibaba's newly appointed CEO Wu Yongming established "AI-driven" as one of the group's two strategic priorities in an all-staff internal letter. In November, during his first financial report earnings call after assuming office, "AI" also became one of the most important keywords he used to describe Alibaba's strategy and various businesses for the quarter. (LatePost)

JD denies layoff rumors from internal sources

There have been reports that multiple JD employees revealed that JD is currently undergoing a large-scale personnel restructuring involving logistics, technology, retail, and industrial business lines, with N+1 compensation and no year-end bonuses. However, internal sources at JD denied these rumors, stating that there are no such plans, and the company is still recruiting employees. The total number of employees has now increased to 590,000. (China New Economic Information & Latitude)

Yu Minhong’s latest response: The editor is at fault, the CEO shouldn’t disclose Dong Yuhui's salary

Today, Yu Minhong, the founder of New Oriental, released a video statement on a social media platform in response to the recent controversy involving the New Oriental’s anchor Dong Yuhui and the editor. In the video, Yu Minhong stated that the editor's repeated replies to netizen comments in the controversial incident severely lacked professional spirit. At the same time, New Oriental CEO Sun Dongxu's mention of Dong Yuhui's salary in explaining the issues was also inappropriate. He pointed out that New Oriental has no "fan culture" and resolutely opposes such culture, and called on netizens to express their opinions and suggestions rationally.

Earlier, on December 5th, Dong Yuhui published a nearly 700-word "small essay" to promote New Oriental's "Jilin Trip" from December 8th to 10th. The following day, the New Oriental content team pinned a comment in the comment section, stating that the "small essay" used in the live broadcast was a collaborative effort of the anchor, the content team, the filming team, and the editing team, and was not the work of Dong Yuhui alone. This comment sparked dissatisfaction among Dong Yuhui's fans, who believed New Oriental content team treated Dong Yuhui unfairly and swarmed to a competitor's live stream "Gaotu Jiapin" to show their support.

Gaotu Jiapin’s live stream sales increased over 10 times

On the evening of December 11th, Gaotu Jiapin's live stream was swarmed by fans of New Oriental's anchor Dong Yuhui. That day, 600,000 people flooded into Gaotu Jiapin's live stream, with over 10,000 people online simultaneously. The expected live stream sales were 250,000 to 500,000, more than 10 times the previous amount. On December 12th, Gaotu founder Chen Xiangdong appeared in the live stream and responded to netizens who expressed hope that Gaotu Jiapin would recruit Dong Yuhui, saying, "Dong Yuhui is not for recruiting, Dong Yuhui is for love." Prior to this, New Oriental's editor "stabbed" Dong Yuhui, stating that most of the "small essay" was created by the content team, not solely by the anchor Dong Yuhui.

Uniqlo accelerates its North American expansion

Uniqlo announced it will double the number of stores in North America to over 20 this year, with the goal of opening 200 stores by 2027. Uniqlo entered the North American market in 2005 and currently has 53 and 19 stores in the United States and Canada, respectively. Prior expansion has been slow. (Retail Circle)

Zhou Binquan, Chairman of Fulining Pickles, retires

Fuling Pickles announced that Chairman Zhou Binquan has retired from all positions in the company, as he has reached the statutory retirement age. Since joining Fuling Pickles in 2000, Zhou Binquan has transformed the company, which was on the brink of bankruptcy and heavily in debt as a state-owned pickle company, into a state-controlled listed company with net assets of 8.077 billion yuan and annual tax profits exceeding 1 billion yuan.

Alibaba Cloud's Chief Business Officer, Cai Yinghua, resigns

Alibaba Cloud Chief Business Officer Cai Yinghua (alias: Huayan) officially resigned from Alibaba Cloud on December 13. Cai Yinghua parachuted into Alibaba Cloud in March 2022 as a senior vice president (M7 level). His resignation had been foreshadowed. On November 23, Alibaba Cloud announced the latest organizational structure adjustment, with the sales line structure divided into three main parts: public cloud business unit, hybrid cloud business unit, and overseas business unit, all reporting to Alibaba Cloud CEO Wu Yongming, but Cai Yinghua's movements were not mentioned. (36 Kr)

Inditex, Zara's parent company, sees 32.5% increase in net profit in the first three quarters of the 2023 fiscal year

Zara's parent company, Inditex Group, released the 2023 fiscal year report for the first three quarters on December 13. In the nine months ending on October 31, Inditex's sales increased by 11.1% to 25.6 billion euros, and at a fixed exchange rate, they increased by 14.9%. Gross profit increased by 12.3% to 15.2 billion euros, and net profit increased by 32.5% to 4.1 billion euros. The fourth quarter also showed an 14% increase in sales from November 1 to December 11. (WWD)

Temu tops the 2023 U.S. App Store application download charts

Apple has released the application with the highest downloads in 2023 on its App Store, showing that Temu is the most downloaded free application, surpassing Meta and Google, among other U.S. tech giants. Additionally, Temu has already surpassed Amazon in average user usage time. (AMZ123)