(Yicai Global) June 13 -- Shares in Koolearn Technology Holding as much as doubled this morning after the Chinese online education provider under New Oriental Education & Technology Group, whose edtech services were badly affected by the country’s crackdown last year, has started to combine English-language learning with livestreamed e-commerce.

Koolearn’s stock price [HKG:1797] closed 40 percent higher today to HKD8.72 (USD1.11). Earlier in the day it hit HKD12.50. The stock has doubled in value over the past two trading days. New Oriental’s US-traded stock [NYSE:EDU] jumped 10.1 percent yesterday to close at USD16.21 each. The stock was worth USD200 apiece in February last year before the clamp down.

The sales host on Koolearn’s new livestreaming room on TikTok’s Chinese version, Douyin, gave 135,000 viewers English lessons while at the same time flogging CNY301,000 (USD44,670) worth of books, smart software and learning devices on June 10, two days after it opened.

And the same formula on its farm produce live sales studio Oriental Select, set up at the end of last year, also had good results the same day, shifting CNY15.3 million (USD2.2 million) worth of commodities to an audience of 108,000 people.

New Oriental was forced to look for new streams of revenue after Chinese authorities banned all out-of-school extra classes in July last year in a move aimed at reducing the ‘twin pressures’ of excessive homework and off-campus tutoring on students in compulsory education.

The embargo forced New Oriental to discontinue its lucrative kindergarten to grade nine after-class tutoring services. Revenue for the third quarter of the 2022 fiscal year ended Feb. 28 plunged 48.4 percent from a year earlier to USD610 million, according to the Beijing-based company's latest earnings report. Revenue from education planning and services plummeted 54.1 percent to USD510 million.

But the company’s new businesses are growing with sound momentum, founder and Chairman Yu Minhong said in the financial report. Revenue from exam preparation services for adults and college students surged 59 percent over the period, while that from exam preparation and consulting services for those going abroad jumped 15 percent.

New Oriental is likely to offer more classes to adults and college students and achieve big growth in these areas, Ping An Securities said recently. The firm is seeking to transition to livestreaming e-commerce and, supported by Koolearn, it is doing quite well. New Oriental still has as a strong brand as well as good human and material resources, it added.

Editor: Kim Taylor