Image: Visual China

BEIJING, January 10 (TMTPOST) — Chinese private education and tutoring giant New Oriental Education & Technology Group saw its revenue plummet by 80% and laid off 60,000 employees in 2021, the company's founder Yu Minhong said in his review of 2021.

Yu posted his review of 2021 on his WeChat public account on January 8, giving New Oriental's performance in the past year and sharing his vision for the company's future.

In 2021, New Oriental experienced numerous major changes from the Covid-19 pandemic, changing government policies and international relations, Yu said in his post, admitting that many of the company's businesses are facing plenty of uncertainties. The company's market valuation had fallen by 90% with its revenue dropping by 80% year-on-year in 2021. The company laid off around 60,000 employees and had spent nearly 20 billion yuan on employee compensation, training center leasing and refund to clients. New Oriental also decided to completely pull out from both online and offline K9 education business, Yu said in his review of 2021.

Yu said that New Oriental will shift its focus to STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) education, study trips and camps, etc. in the future. In addition, New Oriental will increase its investment in education for college students and Chinese language education overseas. The company's Hong Kong-listed Koolearn will establish a new e-commerce brand named Dongfangzhenxuan (which means delicacies from the east). Koolearn, which was New Oriental's online tutoring and K12 education platform, will transition to an e-commerce platform focusing on selling agricultural products and bringing value-added services to farmers in China.

"We need to do the right things when there are uncertainties," Yu stressed in his review. According to Yu, uncertainties come from changing policies and market circumstances, which require New Oriental to be adaptable and find the right direction that matches with the government's development plan. Doing the right things means New Oriental must do valuable things that help others and society, Yu said.