New Oriental Education: Founder Michael Yu’s Personal Blog Posts Do Not Represent Company’s Views

New Oriental Education announced at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEx) on Monday that its board of directors noticed many recent media reports about the company, including some quoting personal blog articles published by Michael Yu, the founder of the company, which were related to the business and financial performance of the company.

In the announcement, New Oriental Education pointed out that the company reminded shareholders and investors that these media publications were not authorized and did not represent the views of the company. Only data published by the company and disclosed on the websites of the HKEx and the SEC can be regarded as true information about and originating from the company.

New Oriental Education said that it is reviewing its financial performance for the six months ended November 30, 2021, and will provide the market with updated financial performance data for that period in the form of announcements published on the websites of the HKEx and the SEC as soon as it is available (currently expected to be around late January 2022 and no later than mid-February 2022).

On January 8, Michael Yu posted an article on his official WeChat account, saying that the market value of the company dropped by 90%, its operating income decreased by 80%, 60,000 employees were dismissed, and the cash expenses such as tuition refund, employee dismissal and teaching point rent refund were nearly 20 billion ($3.14 billion), which has aroused hot discussion among web users.

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On January 10, Yu once again posted an article saying that no matter what the external world says, the company needs to develop continuously, and he must face the difficulties and lead everyone to continue the hardships. He said, “Even if so many employees are left, there are still about 50,000 employees and teachers in the company.”