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Luo Yonghao
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Luo Yonghao | |||||||
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| Born | 9 July 1972 | ||||||
| Alma mater | Beishan Primary School | ||||||
| Occupations | entrepreneur internet celebrity former teacher at New Oriental in Beijing (2001-2006) | ||||||
| Title | Founder and CEO of Smartisan | ||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 羅永浩 | ||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 罗永浩 | ||||||
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Luo Yonghao (Chinese: 罗永浩, b. 9 July 1972), also known as "Lao Luo", is a serial entrepreneur, live streamer, and internet celebrity.[1] He launched his career as a prominent English teacher at New Oriental School in 2001. He later founded several startups, experiencing initial success followed by downfalls, most notably with Smartisan Technology, which was ultimately acquired by ByteDance.[2] He was also the founder of now defunct blogging website Bullog.cn.[3]
Early life
[edit]Luo was born to a Korean Chinese family in Helong, Jilin, China. His father Luo Changzhen (Chinese: 罗昌珍) was the party secretary of Helong county. At age 12, his family moved to Yanji and he transferred to Beishan Primary School. In his second year of high school, Luo dropped out. After leaving school, Luo held various jobs including selling second-hand books, reselling smuggled cars, and working in South Korea for a while. As he neared thirty, mounting financial pressures drove him to explore lucrative teaching opportunities at New Oriental School. After a year of self-taught English, he secured a position there in 2001. He quickly rose to prominence as a star teacher before founding his own private English school.[4]
Career
[edit]From 2001 to 2006, Luo taught the GRE preparation class at the New Oriental school in Beijing. Because of his humorous teaching style and often off-topic tangents, a few of his students filmed him and uploaded some of his lectures online. The videos, titled "Lao Luo Quotations", gained popularities among netizens. Luo Yongaho, nicknamed Lao Luo (老罗) by his students, became one of the first generation internet influencers.[2] Luo was shortlisted as the top 10 internet celebrities by Baidu in 2005 and 2006.[5] In June 2006, Luo Yonghao resigned from New Oriental and set off in various ventures including his own English tutoring institution.[6]
Bullog.cn
[edit]On July 31, 2006, Luo launched Bullog.cn, citing dissatisfaction with the censorship of other platforms on his bold and critical comments on Chinese authorities. The site attracted opinion leaders and public intellectuals who dared to speak up, among them Han Han, Li Yinhe, and Feng Tang,[7] and was considered a rare liberal hub for social critiques and uncensored commentaries.[8] The site experienced frequent suspensions, and was permanently shut down after three years due to state content control.[1][2][9]
Smartisan
[edit]In 2012, Luo founded Smartisan Technology Co., Ltd., a smartphone company inspired by his admiration for Steve Jobs. He launched the Smartisan T1 in 2014, marketing it as the "best smartphone in the eastern hemisphere" through elaborate, comedy-style events. Luo's anti-Apple rhetoric and savvy marketing built a niche following, with launches drawing millions of Weibo followers and setting Guinness records. However, the company faced financial difficulties; by 2019, Luo was placed on China's "deadbeat" blacklist for over $14 million in debts. Smartisan sold assets to ByteDance, and Luo stepped down amid a total debt of $89 million.[2][9][10][11][12][13]
On August 20, 2018, Smartisan launched the messaging service Bullet Message, which gained 7 million users in its first three weeks.[14][15]
References
[edit]- ^ a b "How did China's once-broke entrepreneur sell US$15 million worth of goods on Douyin?". South China Morning Post. 2020-04-14. Retrieved 2025-10-14.
- ^ a b c d Chen, Wency (2020-04-02). "Smartisan founder turned e-commerce livestreamer: Luo Yonghao debuts on Douyin". KrASIA. Retrieved 2025-10-14.
- ^ "China closes 91 websites in online crackdown". Reuters. January 12, 2009.
- ^ "罗永浩：愤怒是一种生活方式". 环球人物杂志. 2011-11-15. Retrieved 2025-10-13.
- ^ "为什么说罗永浩是第一代网红？|界面新闻 · 科技". www.jiemian.com. Retrieved 2025-10-15.
- ^ "After Luo Yonghao's Conversation with Li Xiang Gained Millions of Views on Bilibili, Did He Pull Out a Box of "Instant Noodles" Upon Return?". eu.36kr.com. 2025-08-20. Retrieved 2025-10-15.
- ^ "真男人，罗永浩". finance.sina.cn. 2022-05-10. Retrieved 2025-10-15.
- ^ "牛博网被封引起舆论反弹". rfa 自由亚洲电台 (in Chinese (China)). 2009-01-09. Retrieved 2025-10-15.
- ^ a b "Smartisan's CEO wants to be the next 'Steve Jobs of China'". Engadget. 2014-08-11. Retrieved 2025-10-15.
- ^ "The Once and Future CEO". SixthTone. 2022-06-14. Retrieved 2025-10-15.
- ^ Xiao'e, Li Yuan, Wang. "Luo Yonghao: Maverick founder who gave Smartisan its allure, but couldn't build a winner". CompassList. Retrieved 2025-10-15.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ "Apple-bashing Chinese CEO's mountain of debt lands him on official 'deadbeat' list". South China Morning Post. 2019-11-05. Retrieved 2025-10-15.
- ^ "Tech founder turns live streamer". South China Morning Post. 2020-03-24. Retrieved 2025-10-15.
- ^ "Bullet Message to spend 1 billion yuan to acquire 100 million users as it aims to take on Tencent's WeChat". South China Morning Post.
- ^ "罗永浩：支付宝很快接入子弹短信". August 25, 2018. Retrieved September 8, 2018.
External links
[edit]
- Luo Yonghao on Weibo (in Chinese)
- Luo Yonghao on Youku