New Oriental O2O Ecological circle encounters dilemma

Absrtact: After nearly a year of trying to grope, the largest education and training institutions of the new Oriental Education Technology (Group) Limited (new Oriental) online strategy officially surfaced. On the evening of July 30, New Oriental announced a joint venture with Tencent to set up an online education company north

After nearly a year of trying to grope, the country's largest education and training institutions-new Oriental Education Technology (Group) Co., Ltd. ("New Oriental") the online strategy of the formal surface.

July 30 evening, the new Oriental announced the joint venture with Tencent Online education company-Beijing Micro-Science Tomorrow Network Technology Co., Ltd. ("Micro-learning Tomorrow"). Joint venture company registered capital of 30 million yuan, the new Oriental wholly-owned subsidiary "Beijing New Oriental Xun Network Technology Co., Ltd." ("New Oriental Express") holding and participate in the actual operation. "New Oriental online through holding or equity participation in the form of joint third party to do online education, so that the form of cooperation will be quickly replicated and promoted." A new Oriental insider said of the economic observer. New Oriental Online is the new Oriental Express operation of the entity website, but also the new Oriental interior for the new Oriental call.

In fact, in the field of Internet education, "the early morning, but the late set" new Oriental has greater ambitions. Cooperation with Tencent is only one of the steps to promote the online strategy of the new Oriental and to establish the O2O Education Ecological Circle Plan.

According to Mr Yu's vision, the next step in the new Oriental is a combination of online education biosphere, that is, in the interior to achieve offline classroom teaching products and online services combined; On the outside, it will initiate a series of cooperation on online education products and services, and even the purely financial nature of investing in more than online education companies.

The role of a fast path

Beijing Enterprise Credit Information Network business registration information display, micro-learning tomorrow was established in July 3, 2014, registered capital of 30 million yuan, the company's shareholders for the new Oriental Xun Cheng and Tencent affiliated company Shenzhen Litong.

Mr Yu is chairman of the joint Venture company, New Oriental Online CEO Chang is the legal representative, she and Tencent social networking business Group head Tong Dawsong and Tencent Strategic Development Department general manager Lin as director.

It's worth noting that Tong Dawsong's Tencent social networking business Group currently operates online educational tools based on QQ groups, as well as online education program "Tencent classrooms". This has left outsiders with doubts about the future operation of Yu Weixu tomorrow. One of the questions is how the joint venture will face up to the competition with Tencent classrooms in similar courses in the future.

"New Oriental online users have nearly 10 million, and Tencent's users are more than 700 million, which means that through Tencent this channel to get the new oriental must be the user increment; In addition, we will choose some more suitable for Tencent channel content, in a special form to the final presentation. "The New Oriental Public Relations department responded in an interview with the Economic Observer.

The so-called "special form" is likely to refer to mobile products. A person close to the new Oriental revealed that the future of micro-learning will focus on the development of mobile learning products, the first product initially planned to be launched in late 2014, will be in Tencent's online channels and new Oriental's offline schools to promote. "Focus on the development of unique mobile learning products, which can integrate new Oriental rich educational content resources and Tencent's Internet technology and permeability advantages." Guoyang, an analyst at the Analysys think-tank, said that Tencent had reached strategic cooperation with the new Oriental, both in technology and resources, and in terms of users, brands and traffic.

Tencent is not the only partner to finalize the new Oriental drive. Earlier July 23, new Oriental and education testing service provider ATA announced the joint venture to establish a focus on online vocational education joint venture. The new Oriental is also responsible for the joint venture's capital and actual operation.

New Oriental insiders said that the new east will also seek to work with more large Internet companies to cooperate. And these cooperation will be from the new Oriental online, new Oriental Xun Cheng as the main body to participate.

New Oriental Online by the new Oriental in 2000 to invest 50 million yuan to create. From the end of 2013, the new Oriental online main courses began to push the intelligent learning platform, which largely helped to improve the user's viscosity.

New Oriental's latest earnings show more than 2000 online courses currently available, up to the end of the 2014 fiscal year (i.e. May 31, 2014), with more than 9.2 million registered users and 177,700 paid subscribers.

New Oriental Online CEO Chang earlier in an interview with the Economic Observer said that, in addition to strengthening their own business, the new Oriental online will be active and multi-party cooperation. She said: "Our advantage is teaching content, and some internet companies have channels, some have the flow advantage, some of the technology leader, so we will consider a variety of joint." ”

The economic observer learned that in this series of joint venture projects, is a subsidiary of New Oriental Online to participate in the preparation rather than the new Oriental group, mainly because: first, the new Oriental Online as a subsidiary of the independence of operations; the second is that the new Oriental online has always been the operating mode of internet companies, in Mr Yu's view, This means that it is better suited to "deal" with those internet companies and facilitate the operation of joint ventures.

The new Oriental insiders also revealed that the group also plans to invest in a number of external online education companies, as long as these companies "business models or technology with the new Oriental's own online education strategy complementary", whether mobile app, platform companies, and even content companies, New Oriental will consider taking equity or mergers and acquisitions to invest.

The source said that the new Oriental has now and more than 30 such companies have contact.