Yang Chengjian, CEO of Groupon and Tencent's (0700.HK) group buy joint venture Gaopeng, has recently submitted his resignation to the company's board of directors, citing personal reasons. Yang reported that before April 28 he will entrust his work responsibilities to "a long-time Gaopeng team member," Gao Xia, who will continue manage the company's day-to-day affairs.

In a statement expressing thanks to Yang for the work he accomplished during his time as CEO, Gaopeng board chairman Lai Zhiming also revealed that the company is in the midst of cooperation negotiations with Chinese group buy site FTuan and Tencent's (0700.HK) group-buy site QQ Tuan (tuan.qq.com) for the joint establishment of a more robust group-buy platform.