(Yicai) Feb. 7 -- The founder and chief executive officer of 360 Security Technology, also known as Qihoo 360, has denied recent online rumors claiming the Chinese internet security giant will foray into livestreaming e-commerce.

360 Security will not shift its main focus on livestreaming e-commerce like Chinese tutoring giant New Oriental Education & Technology Group did by establishing e-commerce arm East Buy Holding, Zhou Hongyi said in a video posted on short-video platform Douyin yesterday.

Recent social media rumors claimed 360 Security had confirmed that livestreaming e-commerce would be one of the company’s main focuses this year and that Zhou would also get involved in the new business.

This year, 360 Security will adopt an industrial digitization strategy to continue providing customers with digital security and helping companies build their own large language models, Zhou noted in the video.

“I recently talked a lot about livestreaming e-commerce and East Buy, and this may have caused misunderstandings,” Zhou said, adding that he did so because he is intrigued by the new business model of influencers, new media, and livestreaming e-commerce.

360 Security expects its net loss to have shrunk about 80 percent to between CNY370 million and CNY550 million (USD52.1 million and USD77.4 million) last year from the year before, the Beijing-based firm said in its 2023 annual earnings forecast.

360 Security [SHA: 601360] was trading down 1 percent at CNY6.93 (98 US cents) as of 1.50 p.m. in Shanghai today. The stock soared 9.5 percent yesterday before Zhou released the video.

Editors: Shi Yi, Futura Costaglione