Zhang Xiaolong of Fenbi has aroused public outrage.
It's not surprising to see Zhang Xiaolong acting absurdly and going on a rant on the podium.
On June 3rd, Zhang Xiaolong, the founder of Fenbi, was invited as the keynote speaker to attend a career planning lecture held by the School of Philosophy of a university.
A person familiar with the matter told China Entrepreneur that Zhang Xiaolong didn't prepare a PPT in advance. A few days before the lecture, the promotional copy for the event stated that Zhang Xiaolong would "answer questions one by one around issues that everyone is concerned about, such as career planning, civil service exam preparation, and job - hunting skills."
More than a hundred listeners voluntarily signed up. Since Fenbi Technology is one of the largest online training institutions in China, the on - site listeners are the core user group of Fenbi.
At the beginning of the speech, Zhang Xiaolong followed the rhythm and gave a speech on "Career Planning in the AI Era". According to the recollection of on - site listeners, around 40 minutes into the speech, the situation suddenly changed.
Zhang Xiaolong said that only a small number of students who signed up for courses at Fenbi could pass the exams. For most of the enrolled students, what Fenbi provided was emotional value. Next, he hoped that the listeners could learn to use AI, but the response from the audience was cold.
In the recording that circulated on social media platforms, Zhang Xiaolong also talked about how he used AI to assist in stock trading. He mentioned that he invested 80 million yuan in the stock market in May and earned 53 million yuan. Zhang Xiaolong advised the listeners to use AI for stock trading.
However, Zhang Xiaolong's stimulating remarks didn't resonate with the audience below. The on - site listeners kept their heads down and said nothing. "Everyone is not interested in his personal success theory, and the speech lacks substantial content," said the person familiar with the matter.
The cold atmosphere on - site made Zhang Xiaolong even more furious. His subsequent series of roars plunged the scene into complete silence: "I have more assets than you." "I'm just here to show off my wealth."
"You seem to have no reaction. I'm a bit angry and I'll criticize you... You have no reaction to AI, a new thing that can bring huge changes and wealth to society." "I've given at least 20 lectures this year, and you are the worst. My time is very precious. I don't like you. That's it, the end." After a dense outburst, Zhang Xiaolong left two swear words and then stormed off the stage.
Subsequently, the staff of the organizer took the stage to comfort the stunned audience. That night, they called each listener who attended the lecture to apologize.
"He thought he failed to brainwash others and got angrier as he spoke. In fact, we weren't touched at all. We were quite confused when he left in a fit of rage," said the above - mentioned person familiar with the matter.
Yesterday, Fenbi Technology's official Weibo account released an apology letter signed by Zhang Xiaolong, but the public opinion didn't subside, and investors voted with their feet. As of yesterday's mid - session, Fenbi's stock price dropped 7.46% that day, and its market value shrank to about HK$1.369 billion.
Source: Screenshot from Weibo
However, industry insiders also said that Zhang Xiaolong's absurd "rant" on the podium is not surprising. Over the years, it's not the first time that he has lost control of his emotions in public. And Fenbi Technology, as a well - known training institution in China, has also suffered setbacks and faced continuous turmoil in recent years.
Always Using "Speaking Out of Turn After Drinking" as an Excuse
This is not the first time Zhang Xiaolong has "lost his composure".
Zhang Xiaolong was born in Ziyang, Sichuan. He later completed his master's and doctoral studies in the Department of Philosophy at Sun Yat - sen University. In 2013, Zhang Xiaolong joined Yuan Ti Ku to be in charge of the civil service exam project; in 2015, he founded Beijing Fenbi Lantian Technology Co., Ltd. and served as the CEO. On January 9, 2023, Fenbi, as the "first Internet vocational education stock", was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Its market value exceeded HK$23 billion on the first day of listing.
During the process of Fenbi growing from scratch, Zhang Xiaolong was known for his outspokenness and "daring to speak". This personal style once helped Fenbi Technology stand out in the civil service exam training market, which was full of a "serious" atmosphere in the early days.
In 2017, when Xiaoyuan Search and Baidu Zuoye Bang had a dispute over "porn - related" content, Zhang Xiaolong posted dozens of Weibo posts, calling Baidu "the worst company in China". Subsequently, Baidu sued Zhang Xiaolong for compensation of 10 million yuan. The court finally ruled that Zhang should pay 120,000 yuan in compensation and post an apology on Weibo for 48 hours at the top of his page.
In September 2020, when participating in the poverty - alleviation program Youth on the Land on Hunan Satellite TV, Zhang Xiaolong said that he had seriously prepared content for one or two hours, but the program team only gave him a 10 - second shot. Then he publicly criticized the program team and even targeted the stars participating in the recording. That incident finally ended with Zhang Xiaolong issuing an apology statement on the grounds of "speaking out of turn after drinking".
Since then, "speaking out of turn after drinking" has become Zhang Xiaolong's get - out - of - jail - free card.
In June 2023, when Fenbi's stocks entered the unlocking period, the stock price plummeted by 57% in three trading days. Zhang Xiaolong posted a photo of the cover of the book Value written by Zhang Lei, the founder of Hillhouse Group, on his WeChat Moments, with the caption: "You must stay away from those who say they want to do value investment, especially those with the surname Zhang." But less than a day later, he posted another "repentant" WeChat Moment, explaining that "it was just a joke about Boss Zhang" and the reason was "drinking a little wine".
Surprisingly, every time he speaks recklessly, Fenbi's brand exposure jumps to a new level. After subtly mocking Zhang Lei on June 28th, Fenbi's stock price opened higher and went higher in the early trading on June 29th, with a maximum intraday increase of 27.99%. After the controversy fermented, Fenbi's stock price actually rose.
In the following years, Zhang Xiaolong has been on the hot search many times because of his outrageous remarks and has also enjoyed the traffic dividends brought by his "Internet - celebrity CEO" status. However, there is only a thin line between "true nature" and "losing control of emotions". While Zhang Xiaolong has become well - known in a high - profile way, Fenbi also has to pay the price for his "temperament".
Can AI Support Fenbi's New Story?
Putting aside Zhang Xiaolong's "temperament", objectively speaking, Fenbi is in a not - so - easy development stage.
From 2020 to 2021, the number of Fenbi's employees soared from 1,592 to a peak of 16,800. However, after the radical offline expansion, the "double - reduction" policy was implemented. The company laid off about 9,400 employees within 15 months, and the refund rate of the agreement - based courses in 2021 was as high as 73%.
According to Fenbi's 2025 annual performance report, the company's revenue was 2.677 billion yuan, a year - on - year decrease of 4.1%; the adjusted net profit was 281 million yuan, a year - on - year decrease of about 22.6%. This is already the second consecutive year of negative revenue growth for Fenbi.
What's more worthy of attention is the change in the business structure. In 2025, the revenue from Fenbi's small - class civil service exam training business reached 1.738 billion yuan, becoming the core source of income; the number of paid participants in traditional large - class courses dropped sharply from 1.2 million to 900,000, a decline of up to 30%. Fenbi explained in the financial report that the decrease in revenue was mainly due to the continuous intensification of industry competition, which put pressure on both training services and book sales.
From the perspective of Fenbi's user and financial structure, its active users are 9.1 million, basically the same as in 2024; the gross profit margin remains at 53.5%, which is at a high level in the industry, and the cash and cash equivalents are about 869 million yuan.
In contrast, the number of applicants for the 2025 national civil service exam reached a record high of 3.416 million, and the application - to - admission ratio reached 86:1. However, the "craze for civil service exams" has not been translated into revenue dividends for the training industry.
The Analysis of the Current Situation and Trends of the Civil Service Exam Training Industry in China in 2025: AI Fully Penetrates and Reconstructs the Industry Service Model by Huajing Industry Research Institute shows that the narrow - sense civil service exam training market is about 13.5 billion yuan, and the broad - sense public service - related market is about 40 billion yuan, but the total participation rate (the proportion of those participating in training) is only about 30%.
The demand side is expanding, but the supply side is still in a melee.
Among the "Big Three in Civil Service Exam Training", Huatu Shanding achieved an operating income of 3.198 billion yuan in 2025, a year - on - year increase of 12.89%. The net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company was 241 million yuan, a year - on - year surge of 354.07%. It reversed the situation and became the number one in terms of revenue scale with its "sinking market + base model".
Zhonggong Education was severely damaged after the "refund crisis". Its stock price dropped by more than 94%, and its market value evaporated by more than 200 billion yuan. It is still in the painful period of transformation. At the same time, the entry of a large number of small and medium - sized institutions has intensified the price war, further eroding the profit margins of leading enterprises.
Caught between Huatu's on - the - ground promotion team and Zhonggong's recovery, Fenbi urgently needs to find its own technological moat.
Fenbi's response strategy is to go all - in on AI. In July 2024, Fenbi's self - developed vertical large - scale model was launched. In 2025, Fenbi's R & D investment was 245 million yuan, a year - on - year increase of 10.6%, and all the HK$60.8 million raised from the IPO was used for AI research, development, and infrastructure construction.
But can AI really support a new growth curve for Fenbi? It's still doubtful.
China Entrepreneur checked the Fenbi App and found that the pricing of its AI question - brushing system course is 530 - 580 yuan, far lower than its small - class courses that cost thousands of yuan and its high - end career - oriented courses that cost tens of thousands of yuan.
When the industry competition is intensifying, the sinking market is lost, and the company is in a difficult situation, Zhang Xiaolong's wanton remarks undoubtedly make things worse for Fenbi.
This article is from the WeChat official account "China Entrepreneur Magazine" (ID: iceo - com - cn). Author: Sun Xin, Editors: Li Yuan, He Yifan. Republished by 36Kr with authorization.