Luo Yonghao: Maverick founder who gave Smartisan its allure, but couldn't build a winner

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The Smartisan founder and internet celebrity is making a comeback with live commerce, after failing to sell enough smartphones at his own company 

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After selling off Smartisan's failed smartphone business to TikTok owner Bytedance in early 2019, Chinese serial entrepreneur and internet celebrity Luo Yonghao made headlines again last month for his e-commerce livestream debut on Douyin, China's version of TikTok and also a ByteDance company. In three hours and watched by 48m viewers, Luo sold over RMB 110m worth of goods ranging from lobsters to smartphones, including sets from ex-rival Xiaomi. Luo started his career as a teacher in 2001 at the well-known English-language education company, New Oriental, where he gained online fame for...
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Edited by S. Mani

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