Groupon suddenly gets pulled off the line

World Group Buy website giant Groupon in China's rapid expansion, the suddenly plan to "backyard."

In the early hours of February 16, Groupon's group-buying website, Www.gaopeng.com, was abruptly withdrawn from the home page.

And in the day before, the site in the case of people do not know, suddenly be online.

The site does not exist for 24 hours.

On the basis of the information, Oliver Samwer, general manager of Deal, the German Groupon who is responsible for Groupon's overseas market expansion, will fly to Beijing to talk to CEO Ouyangyun of Tencent, a new company, on Monday, four. To resolve the contradictions between the two sides.

"From the present situation, if the two sides continue to deadlock, there may be no co-operation." A person close to Groupon told reporters.

Tencent said it would not comment on the matter.

24-hour emergency off-line.

Reporters in the high profile of the short existence of the home page found that the current site to face the user's only e-mail registration function, and the listed group buy the city currently only Beijing.

After simply registering the page information, the user can see the prompt: "You have successfully subscribed to the high-peer newsletter." We will be officially online next week in China. First discount Group One online, we will inform you the first time. You will receive daily offers that include the best deals in your city! ”

February 16, a person close to the German Groupon told reporters that the day after the sudden launch of the site is a unilateral act of German Groupon, and Tencent has taken urgent measures to close the site in China's server.

"High-peer" group purchase site by the German Groupon my City Deal Company and Tencent to set up a joint venture in China management operations. It is rumored that the two sides will each contribute 50 million U.S. dollars, respectively, in the new company accounted for 50% per cent.

Reporter learned that high friends in the home page before exposure not long before the Beijing ICP11111 approval certificate, and the proposed joint venture company has not yet got the business license.

The German city deal website was bought by American group buying giant Groupon in March 2009 and is now the main performer of Groupon's overseas market expansion.

Groupon is worth about 6 billion dollars, according to Sharespost valuations on unlisted stock exchanges. Sharespost estimates that 2015 Groupon revenue will grow from $85 million trillion in 2009 to $1.9 billion trillion, 2010 and 2011, with 600 million dollars and 920 million dollars respectively. Tencent's current market capitalisation is around 350 billion Hong Kong dollars.

Divergent rates of expansion

German Groupon and Tencent on the top of the high peer site, reflecting the two sides in China's strategic layout and the process of huge differences.

In early January, according to foreign media reports, Groupon and Tencent are negotiating a partnership to speed up its expansion in the Chinese market.

Groupon's first stop in China is Beijing and Shanghai. Before the spring festival, the reporter in its Shanghai Jingan office to see, hundreds of square meters of office area, crowded, data stacking chaos, all departments of staff work together, and there is not enough security system, all can be free access.

A staff member specializing in human resources was seconded to Groupon for one months in charge of human resources management at its start-up stage. She told reporters that currently in the Groupon office, the German presence of high-level, from other group to dig the various departments, interns and candidates are all together, the daily work scene in full swing.

"Groupon's expansion in Beijing and Shanghai is fast, with dozens of people and hundreds of people coming to apply for jobs every day," she said. ”

According to internal sources, as of now, Groupon has more than 300 staff in two offices in China, and plans to have more than 500 employees in both places. And one months ago, the media revealed that Groupon's China expansion plan would recruit 1000 employees from Groupon's global vice-president, Mads Faurholt.

To attract a large number of people, Groupon hires its business team with high salaries. The manager of a sales department, thanks to the recognition of Germany, received a monthly basic salary of 20,000-30,000 yuan of generous treatment, while the most basic sales staff, monthly base salary of about 2500-3000 yuan.

"The director level of the people can have the right to recruit, random very large, management is more confusing." said the person.

One person close to Samwer, the general manager of the German Groupon, told reporters that Oliver Samwer's strategy in China was "as soon as possible".

Outside speculation, the German side of the style of quick success and the company's listing pressure is not irrelevant. Earlier this year, media reports said Groupon was in the business of discussing IPOs, with a valuation of $15 billion trillion.

From the current news, Tencent is clearly dissatisfied with Groupon's rapid expansion.

"Tencent wants the site to be on a slower pace and the hiring process will slow down," he said. Insiders said.

Tencent lacks the leading power

In addition to the huge divergence in the expansion strategy, the reporter learned that Groupon and Tencent in the site's customer screening and content modules also have contradictions.

Groupon hopes to pursue its pioneering experience in the international market, rigorously sift through the quality of its customers, and hopes to maintain Groupon's consistent style of product introduction and page design. But Tencent is based on the domestic group buying market development experience, adhere to the traditional route.

Tencent has already owned a group buying business, the QQ group, before partnering with Groupon. QQ Group and high friends are not related.

Tencent, by contrast, is more significant in Groupon's entry into China, offering not only the legal conveniences of the latter's landing in China, but also its 100 million Internet consumer database as Groupon's initial consumer market in China.

It is worth noting that, although Groupon and Tencent are funding each half of the new company, the operation of the management is almost the decision of Germany.

Insiders revealed that in the newly established company, Tencent's CEO Ouyangyun is responsible for the company's strategic affairs, but in fact, the company's specific operations are controlled by the German side, Beijing and Shanghai, respectively, are Mads Faurholt and Raphael Strauch.

At present, the new company's top level is almost all expatriates and overseas Chinese, the domestic group buying market understanding is very low. The person who went to the application told reporters: "There is not a lot of people who can speak Chinese at the top." ”