Fenbi publishes multiple posts mimicking rivals with low-price courses, posts H1 net loss of 184 mln yuan

Fenbi (02469.HK) has sparked widespread debate after publishing a series of informal essays on its official social media channels. Red Star Capital Bureau notes that the company faced significant performance pressure in the first half of this year, falling into a loss-making state, with declines in both average monthly active users and employee numbers.

Fenbi Claims Written Exam Courses Are Unprofitable, Vows to "Scam Again" During Interview Stage

According to public information, Fenbi's core business is providing non-degree vocational education and training services. The company offers comprehensive recruitment and qualification exam training courses for adult learners seeking careers in civil service, public institutions, and other professional fields.

From September 16 to the evening of September 17, Fenbi published several informal essays on its official WeChat account, Weibo, and other channels, with titles including:

• "Saluting Excellent Peers"
• "Acknowledgments"
• "Who Has Conscience in Civil Service Exam Training?"

Fenbi stated that it has long been a benchmark for learning and imitation in the civil service exam training industry. However, in recent years, the company has become bureaucratic, bloated, and inefficient. To address this, Fenbi plans to fully learn from its peers and launch similar low-priced products.

Taking the "Family Bucket" course package as an example, Fenbi claimed that peers sell this course for approximately 680 yuan, while Fenbi prices it at 299 yuan.

"We are cheaper not because we want to engage in malicious competition or highlight our conscience, but mainly because we fear unsold inventory... Since everyone likes cheap options, we'll offer cheap ones. The written exam portion won't make money; we'll 'scam' again during the interview stage."

On September 17, in its second informal essay, Fenbi revealed that its newly launched course—which imitates Chao Ge Education's offerings—was sold for 1,380 yuan (cheaper than Chao Ge Education) and more than 1,200 copies were sold within one day. The essay also accused Chao Ge Education of lying about the course being unprofitable, estimating that Chao Ge Education made a profit of around 3 million yuan from the course.

That same evening, Fenbi published a third informal essay, stating that it had previously driven down training fees in the civil service exam industry. However, in recent years, Fenbi has been criticized for lacking "conscience," and some peer institutions have spent 2 million yuan to poach talent from Fenbi.

Fenbi further explained:

"Our recent string of comparative and disparaging 'informal essays' stems from being bullied in public opinion for years, leading to frustration. Combined with poor management, ineffective administration, and severe losses, seeing peers making money and poaching teachers left Fenbi anxious and angry, forcing it to launch various low-priced products to vent its grievances... In fact, Fenbi's losses are not due to unprofitable systematic classes, but largely self-inflicted."

On September 18, Red Star Capital Bureau called the phone number disclosed by Beijing Fenbi Blue Sky Technology Co., Ltd. through industrial and commercial channels. After the reporter stated their purpose, the other party hung up immediately.

Net Loss of 184 Million Yuan in First Half; Financial Report Cites Intensifying Competition

Behind the series of informal essays lies Fenbi's pressured performance in recent years.

Red Star Capital Bureau reviewed the financial reports and found:

• Revenue: 1.248 billion yuan in the first half of this year, a year-on-year decrease of 16.35%
• Net loss: 184 million yuan, compared to a net profit of 227 million yuan in the same period last year

By segment, revenues from Fenbi's training services, book sales, and other businesses all declined.

Specifically, revenue from the training services business in the first half of this year was 1.069 billion yuan, down 17.5% from 1.295 billion yuan in the same period of 2025. Fenbi attributed this primarily to a decrease in the number of positions offered in Chinese civil service exams and increasingly fierce competition in the related training industry.

The issue of talent poaching mentioned by Fenbi in its informal essays may also be reflected in the financial report.

The report shows:

| Metric | As of June 30 | As of End of 2025 | |--------|---------------|-------------------| | Total employees | 5,963 | 7,005 | | Full-time instructors | 2,154 | 2,870 |

This means that in the first half of this year, over 1,000 employees left Fenbi, including 716 full-time instructors.

Red Star Capital Bureau also noted that Fenbi's average monthly active users are declining:

• As of the end of 2025: 9.1 million
• As of June 30: 8.5 million

Can Frequent "Informal Essays" Pull Fenbi Out of Its Loss Quagmire?

Red Star News Reporter Yang Peiwen Editor Guo Zhuang | Reviewer Ren Zhijiang

Special Statement: The above content (including any pictures or videos) was uploaded and posted by a user of NetEase Hao, a social media platform that only provides information storage services.