EAST BUY (01797) experienced a sharp intraday decline of more than 8%. At the time of writing, the stock was down 5.96%, trading at HKD 25.88, with a turnover of HKD 345 million.

The movement follows the company's announcement on April 28 regarding the granting of 19.3014 million share awards to its directors, senior management, and core employees. Based on the closing price of HKD 28.44 per share that day, the total value of the awards amounted to approximately HKD 549 million. Under the plan, Yu Minhong received 1.8 million shares, while Executive Director and CFO Yin Qiang was granted 450,000 shares. Additionally, 300 employees collectively received 17.0514 million shares, valued at around HKD 485 million, averaging about HKD 1.6165 million per person.

This development comes shortly after several of EAST BUY's core hosts, including Mingming, Tianquan, Zhongcan, and Linlin, recently confirmed their departures from the company. Reports indicate that the changes in the live-streaming environment following the appointment of a new management team were a primary reason for their exits. Yu Minhong acknowledged that after the management adjustment, deviations in the company's management approach had negatively impacted the motivation of its top hosts.

It has been reported that since Sun Jin assumed his role, EAST BUY has accelerated its strategy to reduce reliance on individual top hosts. This effort is being pursued primarily by expanding the host team and launching multiple subsidiary accounts.