Groupon Says Will Start Service in China ’Very Soon’

By Mark Lee

(Updates with executive’s comment in fourth paragraph.)

Feb. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Groupon Inc., owner of the biggest coupon website, will “very soon” start service in China through a joint venture, Danny Yeung, chief executive officer of Groupon’s Hong Kong unit, said.

The Chicago-based company has already hired about 120 employees in China, and plans to expand the workforce to about 1,000 in three months, Yeung said at a briefing in the city today. He declined to name the partner for the venture or specify when the company will start its service in China.

Groupon, which rejected a $6 billion takeover bid from Google Inc. in December, aims to expand its online sales of discount vouchers for restaurants, spas and other goods and services to China, the world’s fastest-growing major economy. The electronic-commerce company faces competition from Chinese operators including Lashou.com and Meituan.com.

“We want to dominate the market in China,” said Yeung, who joined Groupon after the U.S. company last year bought uBuyiBuy.com, where he was chief executive officer, as part of its expansion in Asia.

Groupon said last month it would use the $950 million raised from a round of financing to expand its website and buy back shares. The company boosted its subscriber base in the past year to 50 million worldwide from 2 million in the U.S. by buying rivals in other markets.

Groupon agreed to set up a venture with Tencent Holdings Ltd. to expand in China, Donews.com, a Chinese-language technology news website, reported on Jan. 13, citing people it didn’t identify. Yeung declined to comment today on the report. Catherine Chan, a spokeswoman at Tencent, China’s biggest Internet company, declined to comment on the report at the time.

Yeung said he will have a role in setting up the China operations. The business in China will be overseen by an existing Groupon executive, he said, declining to elaborate.

--Editors: Lena Lee, Suresh Seshadri.

The totally Fence!

The totally Fence!

Damned! We have to climb!

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