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.

　　据知情人士透露，Groupon在中国的合资公司高朋网关闭了一些城市的数家办事处，裁掉了数百名员工，引发人们对该在线优惠券公司进入中国这一大市场的战略的质疑。高朋网正计划在中国进行首次公开发行（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网在上海的办公室外，玻璃门紧闭。高朋网是Groupon在中国的合资企业。

　　高朋网的运营方是中国合资公司，该公司的离职员工及在职员工称，在中国已经有超过10家办事处被关闭，包括位于华北地区唐山市的一家办事处。该办事处的一名员工说，上周五上午他们接到了关闭办事处的通知，而到了午餐休息之后，他和他的同事们就已经被锁在办事处外面了。

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

　　高朋网的一位摄影师James Liu说，他们一直在裁人，至少已经有三个月了。

　　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.

　　据一些不满高朋网做法的离职员工的中国代理律师估计，目前已经有约400人被解雇，但这一数字尚未得到证实。

　　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.

　　高朋网的一系列动作表明，Groupon于八个月前制定的在大举进入中国市场的扩张计划突然之间出现了逆转。自1月份以来，Groupon已经投资了860万美元，并拥有合资公司高朋网40%的股份。该合资公司的另外两家投资者是中国互联网巨头腾讯控股有限公司和私募股权基金云锋基金。

　　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和高朋网声称，关闭办事处是公司战略调整的一部分，并不会降低他们对中国市场的投入力度。高朋网的一位发言人说，高朋网计划更多地关注中国的大中城市，那里的市场更加发达。他同时还说，该公司将长期致力于大力开发中国市场。

　　“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女发言人希瑟•迪金森（Heather Dickinson）说，Groupon的国际扩张方式就是前期大举投入，随着对本地市场了解的不断深入，公司将逐步对战略加以完善。在我们看来，为了奠定成功的长期基础，任何业务调整都非常重要。中国的合资公司是我们在诸多新兴市场的案例之一。在那些市场中，我们也随着公司的发展逐步对战略进行了微调。

　　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.

　　高朋网说，该公司在中国的招聘活动仍在继续，但并未对员工总数正在下降这一事实提出异议。Groupon也声称公司不会按国别披露员工数量，而且中国合资公司当前有多少员工尚无法确定。

　　Tencent and Yunfeng couldn't be reached for comment.

　　目前尚未联系到腾讯和云锋基金对此事发表评论。

　　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将在9月中旬进行IPO，预计将融资7.5亿美元。这样一来，Groupon的总市值将达到200亿美元。据一名知情人士透露，中国市场的收入占Groupon全球收入的份额不足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.

　　长期以来，国外互联网企业一直在中国市场中挣扎求存，中国的互联网用户比其它任何国家都要多。雅虎是最早进入中国市场的互联网企业之一，该公司已经于2005年将它在中国的业务转让给了阿里巴巴集团。此后，双方之间一直都存在着争执。在与阿里巴巴集团旗下的购物网站争夺市场份额失利后，亿贝（eBay）公司在中国的规模也大为缩减。由于对审查和黑客问题的不满，谷歌公司将中文搜索引擎服务器转移到香港，此后该公司在中国的市场份额开始下滑，而受益者则是它的竞争对手百度公司。

　　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进入中国从一开始就充满不确定因素。公司艰难地赢得了一些市场份额，但大量的本地竞争者也在营销上大举投入，力图实现地域上的扩张。

　　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.

　　在高朋网于今年3月份向中国用户推出团购业务之际，已经有数百家中国公司提供在线销售服务了。其中一家竞争公司已经注册了Groupon.cn这一域名，而且根据易观国际（Analysys International）的研究，该竞争对手第二季度的访问量要高于高朋网。

　　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.

　　尽管Groupon在美国的日常交易网站中占主导地位，但在今年第二季度中国此类网站的排名中，高朋网仅居第八位，单月独立访问用户数量为1500万人，不足排名第一的拉手网的访问量的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.”

　　据高朋网一位不愿透露姓名的经理透露，在最高峰时期，高朋网在中国的办事处数量有80家左右，员工总数达3000多人，但后来开始萎缩。他说，Groupon想通过大举扩张的方式进入中国市场，但这一策略并未奏效。

　　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.

　　代理高朋网离职员工的北京律师赵占领说，一些员工对他们被辞退的处置方式感到不满，经过谈判最终获得了两个月工资补偿。赵先生说，他打算在下个月为其他100名离职员工争取到同样的和解条件。据他所知，已经离职的员工至少还有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初入中国就在公共关系方面引发了非常负面的影响。该公司在美式橄榄球“超级碗”（Super Bowl）赛事上播放的广告片被指涉及了西藏的政治现状──这在中国政府看来是一个极其敏感的问题。在这则广告片中，演员蒂莫西•赫顿（Timothy Hutton）念了一份模仿公益广告的声明，说西藏人正处于困境之中，其文化岌岌可危。但画面很快转变为Groupon的一个有关西藏食品的广告。中国网民纷纷批评这一广告片，指责它令人感到被冒犯，而且还显示了该公司对中国的无知。很多美国人也对此感到不悦。

　　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，美国证券交易委员会（Securities and Exchange Commission）对Groupon申请IPO时使用的非常规的会计指标提出了质疑。批评家称Groupon的做法掩盖了高额营销成本。之后，该公司将此项指标从招股书中删除。从招股书中可以看出，Groupon去年的收入额为7.134亿美元，但净亏损额则达到了4.134亿美元。