(Yicai) Feb. 27 -- Shares of East Buy Holding, the livestream e-commerce unit of China's New Oriental Education and Technology Group, fell after its popular salesman Dong Yuhui emptied his Weibo account of all posts.

East Buy [HKG: 1797] finished 3.7 percent down at HKD23.55 (USD3.01) a share in Hong Kong today, after tumbling by as much as 6.3 at one point. 

“I'm disgusted with being a trending topic on Weibo and will close my account tomorrow,” Dong said in a livestream yesterday. He has nearly 1.6 million followers on Weibo.

Dong became a trending topic on the Chinese social media platform after refusing to describe an underwear product during a livestream, despite the requests of many viewers.

Removing all his posts on Weibo was Dong's choice, Shanghai Securities News reported, citing a source close to Beijing-based East Buy.

East Buy had been trying to reduce its reliance on Dong, who used to be an English tutor but now markets a variety of goods online. The firm released a promotional video last December revealing that most of Dong's shows are not scripted by him but by copywriters. 

Fans were quick to react to the statement, believing that it aimed to deny Dong's contribution to East Buy. Fewer than 8.2 million viewers watched the platform's e-commerce live broadcast on Dec. 11, compared with 12.1 million to 16.9 million in the previous three days.

East Buy's shares also tumbled nearly 18 percent after releasing the statement. On Dec. 17, the company said Dong had returned and would be made a senior partner, leading to a bounce back in followers and a 22 percent surge in its stock price.

Editor: Martin Kadiev