Image Source: Visual China
BEIJING, March 22 (TMTPOST) — Chinese professional education service provider Wanmen has reportedly shut down its operation.
Wanmen’s users reported that they lost access to Wanmen’s mobile app on Tuesday. Some of Wanmen’s VIP course members also said that the social media groups for paid VIP users have been dismissed. The VIP course charges users from 10,000 yuan to 20,000 yuan. The VIP course has around 32,000 students, CCTV reported.
Wanmen’s mobile app is now unavailable on both Apple’s App Store and Android application marketplaces.
Established in 2012, Wanmen provides online professional education on professional exams, graduate entrance exams, finance, professional skills and foreign language learning, etc. It is the first private online college in China. The company was founded by Tong Zhe.
Wanmen has over 13 million registered users and over 1,700 courses, according to information on Wanmen’s site.
The company’s office is currently empty, according to a news report by Chinese state media CCTV. Some of Wanmen’s employees said that they received notice on Monday that informed them to work from home because the office will be relocated. There are also employees who said that they have not been seeing the COO and CEO at the office since the Spring Festival.
The company’s founder has lost contact as well. The company has been selling its computers for two weeks, according to CCTV’s report. Wanmen’s offices have been delaying paying their rent and property management fees.
The company might already have had troubles in mid-February as the company transferred all of the money away, CCTV reported, quoting an employee at Wanmen’s Hangzhou office. The headquarters did not explain the situation to the staff and have not been making reimbursements to the employees since January, the employee said.
Wanmen’s founder Tong Zhe has not commented on the situation.
Some paid users of Wanmen’s services have already reported the case to the police. It is said that the police have received many similar complaints.