It is indeed the first major deal we’ve seen in China’s fragmented and costly daily deals market, where the current market leader is the startup Meituan. FTuan was in fourth eighth place last time we looked, while Gaopeng was still losing market share way out of the top ten.
Tencent’s new CEO of its recently spun-off e-commerce division said:
The new joint entity will combine the strengths of FTuan and Gaopeng to better serve consumers in the daily deals market in China. We believe group-buying is a natural leverage off our large user base.
最近e-commerce部門を分離したTencentの新しいCEOはつぎのように述べている。
この新たな共同体によって、FtuanとGEOPENG双方の強みを活かし、中国の日用品市場の顧客により良いサービスを提供することが可能となった。共同購入は我々ユーザーベースの向上に貢献することだろう。
Meanwhile, Groupon’s Jason Harinstein, commented:
For Groupon, this transaction is the next logical step in our strategy to strengthen our investment in China. Tencent has been a great partner, and we are excited to continue our partnership with them. We are also looking forward to working with the FTuan team to provide Chinese consumers and merchants with more compelling offerings.