On August 12, according to China Business News, the head of sales of Wall Street English North has informed the principals of each central branch school that the company will officially declare bankruptcy next week, and require the principals to notify the employees of each branch school to handle the resignation procedures as soon as possible.
zero one
Burst! Wall Street English is going bankrupt?!
Many people did not expect! After the double reduction, the first education giant to fall was Wall Street English, which trained adults in English.
Wall Street English, founded in Italy in 1972, focuses on adult English teaching and is a typical representative of the English training industry. Since entering China in 2000, 76 learning centers were opened at the peak, with more than 3000 employees. However, with the business shrinking, stores across the country have been closed, and only 39 learning centers remain.
In the Chinese market, the number of Wall Street English employees reached more than 3000 at the most, but after the epidemic, the company began to conduct disguised layoffs through "optimization". The first group generally paid N+1 compensation in accordance with the labor law, and the subsequent group generally paid N compensation. The last group of employees who stuck to it has not yet provided specific solutions. So far, there are more than 1000 employees and less than 30 stores. Wall Street English also witnessed the rise and fall of an era.
At one time, Wall Street English, Webb English, American Union and EF were called the "four giants of English training" in China, with high market trust.
But the fact gave people a blow!
Some analysts believe that there are two main reasons behind the bankruptcy of Wall Street English:
1) The epidemic has a severe impact on offline training institutions.
Last year, Wall Street English was closed and laid off in large numbers due to the epidemic, and its business went from bad to worse. This year, many Wall Street English students said on the social platform that the platform only charges and does not teach.
2) On July 24, 2021, the "double reduction" policy was introduced to systematically regulate the business type and operation time of after-school tutoring institutions.
Although the policy of "double reduction" is aimed at K12 institutions and does not directly impact Wall Street English, it requires all training institutions to have training qualifications, which undoubtedly becomes the "last straw" to crush Wall Street English.
After the release of the "double reduction" policy, educational enterprises on K12 and the language training track for young people have transformed one after another. There is a view in the industry that quality education, adult education, vocational education, etc. may become new outlets.
But the reality is that, With the improvement of the quality of the whole people, consumers have become more rational. In addition to market competition, the adult English market has gradually shrunk; The capital of the education track is retreating, and the subdivisions of the education industry are affected. Wall Street English declared bankruptcy at this time, which also shows that the adult English training market is not easy to do.
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Behind the sudden thunder, the adult English market is shrinking
The collapse of Wall Street English is unexpected and reasonable.
According to the Research Report on Chinese Adult English Market in 2020 released by iResearch on August 11, 2020, it is estimated that the adult English market size will shrink by about 37.6% to 59.5 billion yuan in 2020; The adult English market will reach 95.3 billion in 2019.
actually, Adult English gives people the impression that it is not just a need. It seems to be beneficial to the future but has no clear goal. In addition, many people have basically passed the English test after graduation from college, so the demand for adult English is also decreasing. This has resulted in the stereotype that the examination and training of young children's English and studying abroad are the mainstream of the market.
With the shrinking of the adult English market and industry integration, Wall Street English has gradually lost its brand advantage. It is worth mentioning that the problems of the three traditional adult English giants have already emerged. Webb English's bankruptcy, EF's sale of Chinese business, and Wall Street English have also been repeatedly exposed as "difficult to refund fees".
In addition, the management turmoil of Wall Street English itself has also directly affected foreign teaching, which has been exposed by the media for many times due to difficult refunds, false publicity, training loans and other issues. According to the data from the Black Cat complaint platform, there are 562 complaints involving Wall Street English, most of which involve refunds.
In June of this year, due to false publicity and price fraud, the Shanghai market supervision department imposed top penalties on four off campus training institutions according to law, with a total fine of 10 million yuan, including Wall Street English.
It is reported on the Internet that Wall Street English has not been paid for three months. So their business problems may have appeared in May this year before the double reduction was implemented in July.
Therefore, it can be basically determined that the bankruptcy of Wall Street English has little to do with the implementation of the double reduction policy, but is caused by their own problems.
Of course, it may also be slightly related to the general environment, such as the impact of the epidemic, offline training courses may be affected; Another example is the serious epidemic in the United States, which is becoming more and more closed. Many students no longer study in the United States, and this demand is shrinking; In addition, the course cost of Wall Street English is too expensive for many people to afford. In addition, the difficulty of refunding fees and other situations have occurred many times, affecting the brand reputation, so people are less and less likely to choose Wall Street English.
Market reputation is very important for training.
Although the bankruptcy of Wall Street English may not be all due to "double reduction", it is still a signal that the spring of teaching and training institutions has really passed.
"Wall Street English will go bankrupt" is not an isolated case. Wall Street English is by no means the first training institution to close down due to closure, such as Webb English and Kennedy English earlier, and there may be many more in the future
Recently, it was reported that many large institutions were suddenly closed, and parents were all dumbfounded!
Sudden shutdown!
Famous training institutions in Hangzhou have made more than 200 parents dumbfounded
On the morning of August 10, the news of the closure of Sesame Street English in Lianhua Street, West Lake District spread all over Hangzhou. The gate was closed and the notice of class suspension was posted on the glass door. A number of institutional teachers reported that their salaries were not paid in July. Not only that, but the head of Sesame Street English also said that he was suddenly informed of "layoff". It is understood that there is a contract dispute between the Sesame Street English investor and the former investor, which is being handled. As a result, teachers and students here are affected. Several parents have formed a rights group to register relevant information about students, including tuition payment time, amount, remaining class hours, refundable amount, etc.
Close the school!
One of the original training institutions of XRS Lianchuang has quit
After the introduction of the "double reduction" policy, many education and training institutions, including Byte Beat's education sector, Gaotu Group, TAL, and so on, have made significant layoffs. "Double reduction" is also considered as the "last straw" of Wall Street English.
The epidemic situation or "double reduction",
in short
The era of Wall Street English is gone forever
Under the new situation, education practitioners are facing unprecedented challenges and opportunities——
Some people feel great uncertainty and insecurity;
Some people think that the real opportunity comes after the industry reshuffle;
Some people see the great potential of the industry, but do not know where the breakthrough is
There is no era of teaching and training, only the era of teaching and training!
For Wall Street English declared bankruptcy
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Reference sources: Alliance TV, First Finance, Shishuo Ziyue, Beijing News, etc
