Gaopeng.com, Groupon’s joint venture website in China with Chinese partner Tencent, has announced that they must slash nearly 1,000 positions and close at least 20 offices in China due to lack of funds.

The joint venture, only months old, has faced intense pressure from hundreds of competing group buying companies, which have copied the Groupon model and found them better positioned in the Chinese market than their foreign competitor, which has suffered from poor market placement and mismanagement from the inception of their operations.

“We were pushed to create mind-boggling growth rates, but nobody ever asked about profit,” one manager told The Financial Times on August 25th. “The company [has] severe operational problems.”

The problems cast a shadow on the company’s upcoming IPO, as they call Groupon’s international viability into question. The company, however, has blamed partner Tencent for failing to adequately finance the venture, which rapidly expanded to 50 cities and 3,000 employees across China. Officials with the company have said that between 20 and 41 offices may need to shutter, and a directive has come down from management saying that employee rolls must be cut to 2,000.

Tencent did not comment on the situation.