Dongfang Zhenxuan Made ¥500M After Its Top Star Left. What Is 'De-Headlining'?

A year after its biggest star, 董宇辉 (Dong Yuhui), left the company, Dongfang Zhenxuan — the livestream-commerce firm famous for turning culture-styled hosts ("知识带货") into a format — reported a striking result: net profit up sharply, revenue up around 30%, and employee count actually growing. The Chinese business community has one word for the strategy being tested: 去头部化 (qù tóubù huà) — "de-headlining," i.e., removing reliance on a single superstar host.

The story

• Dong Yuhui left in 2024 after a high-profile split with the parent company, taking followers and drama with him.
• The first full fiscal year without him: net profit reportedly climbed to around ¥500M+ (up ~86%), while the company grew its headcount.
• The divergence between talent costs (falling) and profits (rising) is being read as proof that the "one big anchor" era may be giving way to a portfolio of smaller, more corporate-feeling streams.

Why it matters in China

Chinese livestream commerce was built on 头部主播 (head anchors) — individual personalities so big they're basically brands: Li Jiaqi, Viya, Dong Yuhui. 去头部化 is the industry's attempt to become less hostage to one person's availability (or temper).

The phrase carries a cultural echo, too: it connects to a wider theme young workers empathize with — the idea that the platform shouldn't own you, and you shouldn't build your life around one fragile dependency. You can almost hear the 打工人 reading: "don't make your company depend on one person, because people get tired, get rich, and leave."

The 2023 cautionary tale — Li Jiaqi snapping at viewers over a ¥79 eyebrow pencil and triggering a massive 翻车 — hangs over any "one anchor" strategy discussion. Dongfang Zhenxuan's result is being framed as the counter-evidence.

What to watch

Whether 去头部化 scales. If Dongfang Zhenxuan sustains growth without its founder-host, other platforms will likely accelerate their own "de-headline" transitions, reshaping how Chinese livestream shopping feels: less star-driven, more systematic, more corporate.

Related vocab: 翻车, 泼天的富贵, PUA, 班味.