According to an internal e-mail reportedly from Gaopeng - the group buy joint venture of Groupon and Tencent (0700.HK) - Tencent is continuing to consolidate its group buy properties. QQ Tuan will phase out group buy offers from other sites, in favor of offers from Gaopeng and FTuan. FTuan and Gaopeng, meanwhile, will connect their backend systems over the next two months.

QQ Tuan had previously been operated by the FTuan team.

A Gaopeng employee revealed that senior Gaopeng management had orally notified employees recently that Gaopeng would be acquired by FTuan. Gaopeng simultaneously began liquidating assets at its Beijing and Shanghai offices.

An industry source told Sohu IT that Tencent will trade its stake in Gaopeng to FTuan in exchange for a share in FTuan of equivalent value, based on Gaopeng's current valuation. Tencent and Gaopeng have also reached an agreement under which Gaopeng will become an investor, and will be replaced by FTuan in the control and operation of the company.