Although Ouyang Yun, Gaopeng COO, said QQ Tuan and Gaopeng have complimentary business models, the two companies look more like competitors than partners.
From Marbridge Consulting this morning, Gaopeng is doing a fresh round of layoffs at the moment and has been losing people on a weekly basis since April.
Its joint venture there, GaoPeng, has had to fire around 400 people and close 10 offices, and it lags seven other competitors in web traffic, including one called Groupon.cn.