(Yicai) July 26 -- Shares of East Buy Holding plunged after the livestream e-commerce unit of China's New Oriental Education and Technology Group said its popular salesman Dong Yuhui has resigned.

East Buy [HKG: 1797] sank 21.2 percent to HKD9.77 (USD1.25) a share as of 10.35 a.m. in Hong Kong today, after earlier tumbling by as much as 27.7 percent.

Dong will no longer work at or serve as senior management of East Buy, the Beijing-based company announced yesterday. He will acquire the firm's unit Walk with Hui Beijing Technology for CNY76.6 million (USD10.6 million), it added.

After friendly negotiations and mutual agreement, Walk with Hui will start operating independently, Dong said on social media.

Last December, East Buy Chairman Yu Minhong said he and Dong would set up a studio and create a separate account and livestream room, with the revenue recorded under the company. Dong will receive the new room if he decides to leave one day, Yu noted.

The name Walk with Hui derives from Dong Yuhui's name and personal intellectual property, East Buy pointed out. Considering the brand's inseparable link to him and the associated risks of using the IP after his departure, the board believes that the firm will be unable to continue operating Walk with Hui, it added.

In addition to paying Dong the promised benefits and compensation, Chairman Yu said that he had sought board approval to distribute the remaining undistributed profits of Walk with Hui to the host.

Walk with Hui will move to a new office near the headquarters of Douyin, TikTok's sister app in China, and New Oriental Education in Beijing, it previously announced on the short video platform.

After the announcement of Dong's exit, East Buy's Douyin account lost 1,000 followers in 15 minutes, while the Walk with Hui account gained 1,000 followers in 2 minutes and 5,000 followers in 20 minutes.

East Buy Livestream had 10,000 viewers and ranked 17th on Douyin's overall sales chart as of 10 p.m. yesterday, while Walk with Hui Livestream had 60,000 viewers and ranked 3rd.

Editor: Martin Kadiev