Former Jiayuan, Baidu Managers Found English-Teaching Website
China Economic Weekly, 1/22/13
Rose Gong (Gong Haiyan), the former CEO of Beijing-based online matchmaking site operator Jiayuan.com (Nasdaq: DATE), has founded an online English teaching website, 91waijiao.com. The site provides English classes to native Chinese speakers looking to improve their conversational English, study abroad, or immigrate to an English speaking country. Gong founded the site with Zhang Dong, the former chief scientist and architect of Chinese internet company Baidu's (Nasdaq: BIDU) Phoenix Nest search advertising platform. Gong and Zhang have jointly founded Yiduoyun Culture Consulting, which is the operator of 91waijiao.com.
91wailiao.com, which translates to roughly "91 foreign teacher," allows for English teachers to host online English classes on the 91waijiao.com platform. Potential English teachers must apply for and be approved by the site. 91waijiao.com students have the ability to participate in whichever class they like, but must pay to participate.
Editor's Note: For more information on this topic, please see "Jiayuan Appoints Non-Executive Co-Chair," MD 12/24/12 issue. Zhang Dong was also hired as a consultant by Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU) last year to help with development of Qihoo's search engine.
Keywords: online education Internet Zhang Dong Rose Gong 91waijiao Yiduoyun