Gaopeng.com, the Chinese arm of U.S. based Groupon Incorporated, has been laying off Chinese workers on a weekly basis, and has threatened current employees if they reveal the lay offs.

Many current and former employees are revealing the lay offs through social media.

One micro blog, called Gaopeng Will Fail (loose English translation), said the U.S. owned company started laying workers off last month, but made it official on August 19.  They also ordered employees not to talk about it.

At least 30% of Gaopeng employees, and contract workers, will lose their jobs.

Ouyang Yun, Gaopeng’s chief operating officer, said that the company is just “…experiencing a reshuffling of personnel and only dismissed (employees) for poor performance.”

However, business analysts say Gaopeng can not blame employees, Gaopeng itself is a poor performer: “Backed by Groupon, Tencent and other venture capitals, Gaopeng should not be running low on cash.  So its shrinking profitability indicates it needs more innovative ways to lure clients.”-Chen Shousong, Analysys International