Gaopeng CEO Confirms Ftuan to Merge with Gaopeng Brand
Sina Tech, 12/07/12
Lin Ning, CEO of Beijing Wangluo Tianxia Shenghuo Technology (English name: Groupnet), which operates group buy sites Ftuan and Gaopeng, today confirmed the two sites will be merged under the Gaopeng brand, which he described as "having scalability." Tencent (0700.HK) will hold a 30% stake in the new company, followed by Groupon with over 10%, Legend Capital with 10%, and senior management with more than 40%. Lin revealed these figures to dismiss rumors that the brand merger was dictated by Groupon.
Ftuan and Gaopeng have already completed integrating their back ends, and the full merger of Ftuan, Gaopeng, and QQ Tuan is expected to be completed in January 2013, leaving only the Gaopeng domain in operation and accessible using accounts from any of the three providers.
Lin added that Gaopeng will expand beyond group buy deals to become a lifestyle e-commerce service site. The new Gaopeng currently has 2,000 employees, compared to only 400 in the previous company.
Editor's Note: For more background on this topic, please see "Rumor: Gaopeng, Ftuan to Merge Under Gaopeng Brand" MD 11/28/12 issue.
Keywords: Internet Tencent 0700.HK Wangluo Tianxia Groupon Lin Ning Ftuan Gaopeng QQ Tuan Groupnet group buying
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