Groupon Inc.'s joint venture in China has closed offices in some cities and laid off hundreds of employees, according to people familiar with the situation, raising questions about the online coupon company's strategy in a big market ahead of its planned initial public offering of stock.

　　據知情人士透露，Groupon在中國的合資公司高朋網關閉了一些城市的數家辦事處，裁掉了數百名員工，引發人們對該在線優惠券公司進入中國這一大市場的戰略的質疑。高朋網正計劃在中國進行首次公開發行（IPO）。

　　Former and current employees of the Chinese joint venture, which operates the website GaoPeng.com, say more than 10 offices around China have been closed, including one in the northern city of Tangshan where an employee said he and his co-workers were locked out last Friday after their lunch break just after being notified of the shutdown.

　　Newscom周一，一名女子站在高朋網在上海的辦公室外，玻璃門緊閉。高朋網是Groupon在中國的合資企業。

　　高朋網的運營方是中國合資公司，該公司的離職員工及在職員工稱，在中國已經有超過10家辦事處被關閉，包括位于華北地區唐山市的一家辦事處。該辦事處的一名員工說，上周五上午他們接到了關閉辦事處的通知，而到了午餐休息之后，他和他的同事們就已經被鎖在辦事處外面了。

　　“They've been firing people for at least three months,” said the staffer, James Liu, a photographer for GaoPeng.

　　高朋網的一位攝影師James Liu說，他們一直在裁人，至少已經有三個月了。

　　A Chinese lawyer representing some disgruntled former GaoPeng employees estimated about 400 people have been fired so far, a number that couldn't be confirmed.

　　據一些不滿高朋網做法的離職員工的中國代理律師估計，目前已經有約400人被解雇，但這一數字尚未得到證實。

　　The moves appears to mark an abrupt reversal of Groupon's aggressive expansion into China just eight months ago. Since January, Groupon has invested $8.6 million for a 40% stake in the GaoPeng joint venture, which is also funded by Chinese Internet giant Tencent Holdings Ltd. and private-equity firm Yunfeng Capital.

　　高朋網的一系列動作表明，Groupon于八個月前制定的在大舉進入中國市場的擴張計劃突然之間出現了逆轉。自1月份以來，Groupon已經投資了860萬美元，并擁有合資公司高朋網40%的股份。該合資公司的另外兩家投資者是中國互聯網巨頭騰訊控股有限公司和私募股權基金云鋒基金。

　　Groupon and GaoPeng said Tuesday that the office closures are part of a change in strategy and don't diminish their commitment to China. A spokesman for GaoPeng said it plans “to focus more on the middle to large-sized cities” in China where the market is “more developed,” adding that the company “is fully committed to the Chinese market for the long term.”

　　本周二，Groupon和高朋網聲稱，關閉辦事處是公司戰略調整的一部分，并不會降低他們對中國市場的投入力度。高朋網的一位發言人說，高朋網計劃更多地關注中國的大中城市，那里的市場更加發達。他同時還說，該公司將長期致力于大力開發中國市場。

　　“Groupon's approach to international expansion is to aggressively create a large presence upfront and refine our strategy as we gain deeper insight into the local market,” said Groupon spokeswoman Heather Dickinson. “We view any adjustments to the business as very typical in order to build a long-term foundation for success. Our JV in China is just one example of many new markets where we have fine-tuned our strategy as we go. ”

　　Groupon女發言人希瑟•迪金森（Heather Dickinson）說，Groupon的國際擴張方式就是前期大舉投入，隨著對本地市場了解的不斷深入，公司將逐步對戰略加以完善。在我們看來，為了奠定成功的長期基礎，任何業務調整都非常重要。中國的合資公司是我們在諸多新興市場的案例之一。在那些市場中，我們也隨著公司的發展逐步對戰略進行了微調。

　　GaoPeng said it is still hiring in China, but it doesn't dispute that its total number of employees is shrinking. Groupon said it doesn't disclose its staff count by country, and it couldn't be determined how many employees the China venture currently has.

　　高朋網說，該公司在中國的招聘活動仍在繼續，但并未對員工總數正在下降這一事實提出異議。Groupon也聲稱公司不會按國別披露員工數量，而且中國合資公司當前有多少員工尚無法確定。

　　Tencent and Yunfeng couldn't be reached for comment.

　　目前尚未聯系到騰訊和云鋒基金對此事發表評論。

　　Groupon expects to raise about $750 million in a mid-September IPO that could value the company at $20 billion. China represents less than 1% of Groupon's global revenue, according to a person familiar with the situation.

　　Groupon將在9月中旬進行IPO，預計將融資7.5億美元。這樣一來，Groupon的總市值將達到200億美元。據一名知情人士透露，中國市場的收入占Groupon全球收入的份額不足1%。

　　Foreign Internet companies have long struggled in China, which has more Internet users than any other country. Yahoo Inc., one of the earliest to enter, handed over its China business in 2005 to Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., and has since quarreled with the Chinese company. EBay Inc. sharply scaled back its presence in China after losing market share to an online shopping site owned by Alibaba. Google Inc. has seen its market share slide, to the benefit of rival Baidu Inc. since the U.S. company moved its Chinese-language search engine to Hong Kong out of frustration over censorship and hacking issues.

　　長期以來，國外互聯網企業一直在中國市場中掙扎求存，中國的互聯網用戶比其它任何國家都要多。雅虎是最早進入中國市場的互聯網企業之一，該公司已經于2005年將它在中國的業務轉讓給了阿里巴巴集團。此后，雙方之間一直都存在著爭執。在與阿里巴巴集團旗下的購物網站爭奪市場份額失利后，億貝（eBay）公司在中國的規模也大為縮減。由于對審查和黑客問題的不滿，谷歌公司將中文搜索引擎服務器轉移到香港，此后該公司在中國的市場份額開始下滑，而受益者則是它的競爭對手百度公司。

　　Groupon's entry into China was turbulent from the start. The company has struggled to gain market share as its legions of local competitors also invested heavily in marketing and geographical expansion.

　　Groupon進入中國從一開始就充滿不確定因素。公司艱難地贏得了一些市場份額，但大量的本地競爭者也在營銷上大舉投入，力圖實現地域上的擴張。

　　Hundreds of Chinese companies were already offering online buying services in China by the time GaoPeng started offering deals to Chinese users in March. One of those competitors owns the Chinese domain Groupon.cn which, according to research firm Analysys International, had more visitors in the second quarter than Groupon's own GaoPeng.

　　在高朋網于今年3月份向中國用戶推出團購業務之際，已經有數百家中國公司提供在線銷售服務了。其中一家競爭公司已經注冊了Groupon.cn這一域名，而且根據易觀國際（Analysys International）的研究，該競爭對手第二季度的訪問量要高于高朋網。

　　While Groupon is the dominant daily-deals website in the U.S., GaoPeng was No. 8 among such websites in China in the second quarter, with 15 million unique visitors a month─less than 30% the number for the top website in the category, Lashou.com.

　　盡管Groupon在美國的日常交易網站中占主導地位，但在今年第二季度中國此類網站的排名中，高朋網僅居第八位，單月獨立訪問用戶數量為1500萬人，不足排名第一的拉手網的訪問量的30%。

　　One GaoPeng manager, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the company had some 80 offices around the country at its peak, and total headcount of more than 3,000 people, before it started scaling back. “Groupon came into China and tried to expand too aggressively,” he said. “That strategy just doesn't work in China.”

　　據高朋網一位不愿透露姓名的經理透露，在最高峰時期，高朋網在中國的辦事處數量有80家左右，員工總數達3000多人，但后來開始萎縮。他說，Groupon想通過大舉擴張的方式進入中國市場，但這一策略并未奏效。

　　Zhao Zhanling, an attorney in Beijing representing people laid off by GaoPeng, said a number of employees have complained about the circumstances under which they were fired and negotiated to receive two months of compensation to settle the issue. Mr. Zhao said he plans to ask for a similar deal in the coming months for 100 other former employees, and knows of at least 300 more that have been laid off.

　　代理高朋網離職員工的北京律師趙占領說，一些員工對他們被辭退的處置方式感到不滿，經過談判最終獲得了兩個月工資補償。趙先生說，他打算在下個月為其他100名離職員工爭取到同樣的和解條件。據他所知，已經離職的員工至少還有300人。

　　Groupon's China launch followed a spate of bad publicity from a Super Bowl commercial pegged to the political situation in Tibet─an extremely sensitive issue for China's government. In the ad, which was quickly translated and circulated on Chinese websites, actor Timothy Hutton narrates a seeming public-service announcement about Tibetans being “in trouble, their very culture in jeopardy”─but the spot then morphs into an ad for a Groupon deal on Tibetan food. Chinese Internet users criticized it, calling the ad offensive and a display of the company's ignorance about China. Many Americans also took umbrage.

　　Groupon初入中國就在公共關系方面引發了非常負面的影響。該公司在美式橄欖球“超級碗”（Super Bowl）賽事上播放的廣告片被指涉及了西藏的政治現狀──這在中國政府看來是一個極其敏感的問題。在這則廣告片中，演員蒂莫西•赫頓（Timothy Hutton）念了一份模仿公益廣告的聲明，說西藏人正處于困境之中，其文化岌岌可危。但畫面很快轉變為Groupon的一個有關西藏食品的廣告。中國網民紛紛批評這一廣告片，指責它令人感到被冒犯，而且還顯示了該公司對中國的無知。很多美國人也對此感到不悅。

　　Meanwhile, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has raised questions about Groupon's use of an unconventional accounting measurement in its filing for an IPO that critics say masked Groupon's high marketing costs. The company has since taken the measurement out of its prospectus, which shows it had a loss of $413.4 million last year on revenue of $713.4 million.

　　此外，美國證券交易委員會（Securities and Exchange Commission）對Groupon申請IPO時使用的非常規的會計指標提出了質疑。批評家稱Groupon的做法掩蓋了高額營銷成本。之后，該公司將此項指標從招股書中刪除。從招股書中可以看出，Groupon去年的收入額為7.134億美元，但凈虧損額則達到了4.134億美元。