Groupon

Let me first say that Groupon filing to go public is not proof of a tech bubble.

As the rest of the prospectus shows, lining the founders' pockets is all Groupon cares about.

The Amazon model of heavy early investments began to help inform that strategy, one of those people said.

The company celebrated with a self-mocking press release: "Groupon raises, like, a billion dollars. "

No doubt, the losses are staggering, adding up to about $540 million over the past three years.

Groupon once even considered an Amazon joint venture and investment, say people familiar with the matter.

He had a really consistent vision of what he wanted Groupon to be and he didn't compromise that even when there were big financial stakes.

Groupon knew, for example, exactly how much to invest in advertising in order to build a sizable subscriber list in a new market.

Some of the characteristics evolved out of a crucial element of Groupon's early DNA; it was a business created by reluctant capitalists.

All that said, Google probably could have had Groupon if it had upped its offer one more time.

It was an immense sum for a two-year-old company, but this was one deal that Groupon didn't like.

Not all the deals are that specialized, obviously, but I do think there's been a real decrease in the quality of the deals available.

The company raised $950 million in January, but 85 cents of every dollar went toward stock repurchases for Mason and other insiders.

You'll have no voting rights, all voting power belongs to Mason and a few other insiders.

Mason also pitched Groupon as a way to help local businesses with cash flow at a time when banks were not lending.

"Losing Groupon may have been the last straw, " said Salinero. "A company choosing independence over the Google mystique. "

Whereas Groupon apparently wants to launch and expand quickly, Tencent seems to prefer a much slower approach.

Given the criticism about its business, it has become increasingly difficult to run the company, the person said.

Many will redeem the Groupon very quickly, but a lot of them will wait a while, thinking about you in the back of their minds all the time.

In the next six months Groupon opened in Boston, New York and Washington, D. C. , giving each city a Web page featuring its deal of the day.

Until it filed its S-1 on last Thursday, the conventional wisdom was that Groupon was a profitable company.

In its home market, Groupon sells deeply discounted coupons for goods and services, keeping half the cost of each coupon sold.

We took a look at the lightning fast right that took Groupon to its current valuations.

Groupon announced in June that it plans to raise up to $750m through a share flotation.

assume Groupon partners with a retail brokerage firm that could issue Groupon stock as a deal of the day.

Several investors said the SEC scrutiny was likely a major factor in delaying a Groupon IPO.

But investors appear to be happy to jump at the chance to own a piece of the company.

Amid criticism of its business model, Groupon has very publicly called attentions to its Amazon-like strategy.

Simple: Groupon has found that you can get local merchants to try anything once if it brings them new customers.

"We are likely to have more e-commerce deals as a proportion of our revenue than Groupon has in the US, " Mr Ouyang said.

But many observers have questioned the sustainability of the company's daily deal business model.

You might not even be thinking about buying a cupcake or splurging on a massage until you see a tempting offer come in from Groupon.

As a fledgling directory of local stores, Groupon may be a good complement to Google Places, where businesses can create their own page.

Investors and others have said they question whether companies like Zynga and Groupon can go public in such a choppy environment.

Deal Feed will be integrated -- into Facebook, which is interesting for a company about to be picked up by Google.

The wallet will be accompanied and funded by a deals network, much like Groupon, which provides discounts and a loyalty rewards program.

A year after that it had 5, 000 .

Local press got wind of the company and made a lot of noise about it.

The group coupon website Groupon filed an initial public offering Thursday, hoping to raise up to $750m, Reuters reported.

Longtime IPO analyst Scott Sweet, the owner of IPO Boutique, said Groupon is now expected to go public the first week of November.

These reluctant money-makers decided that Groupon should offer one deal a day, and that it should sell vouchers for local businesses.

With some mixture of admiration, fear, and revulsion, their way is known amongst Groupon employees as "The German Way. "

Also, promotions are plentiful, even for new hires like Ms. Handler, who joined Groupon in January and is now an editor.

Groupon is trying to reach a different skill set.

Industry executives said Groupon was in for some drastic adjustment in such a market environment.

While Mr Ding said he wished Groupon luck, others were not so sanguine.

Groupon's overseas expansion brought international sales from 0% of revenue in March 2010 to 53% of revenue in a year later.

Over the past few days, rivals have been gloating over the apparent hiccough in the launch of Groupon's China site.

Groupon appears to be heeding that advice, and has teamed up with Tencent, China's largest internet company, for the China site.

Barely three weeks after selling just 6% of its shares outstanding to the public, Groupon's share price is in free-fall.

Groupon's main competitive advantages are a global email subscriber list of 50 million and relationships with a multitude of business.

They like to say it gets people to try new things and that it gets small businesses cash flow.

Initial signs were that Chinese consumers will rush to snap up Groupon's offers, as they have in many other parts of the world.

Groupon shuns being thought of as a marketer or, worse, an ad agency, promoting cheap pizza or sushi for anyone who wants to hire it.

From the merchant's perspective, a Groupon attracts new customers to a restaurant, some of whom might become regulars.

Customers paid $6 for $13 worth of products, but Posies received only $3 from every purchase after Groupon took its cut, she said.

Whether that freedom helps persuade Groupon to agree to a sale is still an open question.

With the mistakes of others well-documented, Groupon should have the benefit of insight as it moves into the world's second-largest economy.

A. Businesses need to keep in mindthat Groupon is just one thing and needs to be combined with other tools aspart of a marketing campaign.

Groupon is just beginning to expand beyond Beijing and it's not too late to correct course.

Much of the Groupon suite lacks finished ceilings or other signs of permanence.

But after briefly displaying a Groupon logo and other information for a few hours on Tuesday, the site went down.

It has since launched its own service there, alongside local internet company TenCent.

Groupon expects to raise about $750 million in a mid-September IPO that could value the company at $20 billion.

Groupon's sprint to the public markets matches the speed of its own evolution.

Taking a look at the line graph below, Groupon and Zynga's charted growth is steeper than San Francisco's famous Filbert Street.

It could have warned Groupon that its Super Bowl ad making light of Tibetan injustices would bomb.

Groupon's best customers are young, female city-dwellers, who tend to be avid followers of fashion; but fashions change.

Net-net, Groupon is unsustainably destroying value and will implode sometime in the next five years.

Does Groupon think it is worth more than what Google is offering and is reaching out to other prospective suitors?

While the company's approach to local advertising online would sit well within Google, Groupon's business model is easily replicated.

A source close to the Groupon board describes Mason as "thoughtful, " and "charmingly goofy. "

Google, eBay, Groupon, Facebook, and Twitter have encountered roadblocks, including tough local competition or an unfriendly government.

Groupon, which is expected to make its debut in the spring, is prepared to meet with bankers again on Friday, according to the two people.

Others predict Groupon will simply acquire smaller firms, a tactic it has used before when entering overseas markets.

In a Beijing office adorned with a large Groupon sign, staff are conducting job interviews.

Groupon and its competitors embarked on a land grab, amassing as large a list as possible in as many regions as possible.

Google is bidding for Groupon, a trendy e-commerce business, using some of the $33 billion sitting in its coffers.

In less than two years, Groupon has become the undisputed king of online deals.

People would nag their friends to come to the same bar or shop. The merchant would get new customers. Groupon would take a cut.

Or perhaps Groupon wants to announce their products and reward the hard work of their employees before Google starts calling the shots?

Well known is the structural weakness in Groupon's business model, being the "low cost of entry" for competitors.

Groupon is expanding mobile offerings to help maintain its dominance over more than 480 other daily-deal sites.

The group buying site, which launched its Chinese operations in March, faces stiff competition in a fast-growing industry.

Another recent Groupon was a $20 deal for $40 worth of merchandise at the Body Shop.

Groupon has stumbled since filing to go public this past June, using accounting methods some found overambitious.

Nicole Peters, an avid online shopper, describes how she bought a massage via one of Groupon's rivals.

Submit deals to be promoted to Groupon subscribers through email and the Deal Feed (explained below).

He started by suggesting Groupon be in five cities by the end of the year.

Also, all the graphics must be professional looking like group on and living social.

Investment bankers have been making proposals to Groupon about a potential IPO since January.

All of this points to a bright future for Groupon, despite the rise of copycat competitors.

And there is always the chance for competitors to offer a more attractive split of revenues to merchants in order to win their business.

Get customers to follow their Groupon Store, and stay in touch by sending messages through the daily email and deal feed.

Q. Is Groupon, with its local focus, worthwhile for small businesses?

The findings generally align with the data Groupon released earlier this month when it filed to go public.

Since its start in 2008, Groupon has focused on offering only a limited number of coupons a day.

Groupon's attraction is largely as a challenger to Facebook, king of the opaque valuations.

This is different; it looks more like the Groupon hybrid of commerce and advertising, lowball commerce as advertising.

Investors, some of them who also put money into Facebook, began calling Groupon the fastest growing company in history.

Google, after failing to acquire Groupon, is now testing a competing service.

But it seems there is one thing Groupon still isn't able to sell: Itself.

The first is a traditional Groupon, but on a low-cost product that makes it barely worth remembering to print out the coupon.

"We see enormous potential in the Asian marketplace, " Groupon President Rob Solomon said in a statement.

Groupon, too, will put a "huge emphasis on gifting" this holiday season, President Rob Solomon said.

During its IPO road show, Mr. Holden told potential investors that the 'parallels between Amazon and Groupon are amazing. '

"Groupon" is now part of the lexicon of online shopping.

Earlier this month, Groupon announced a joint venture with Live Nation Entertainment to sell discounted concert tickets online.

Groupon, a name that blends "group" and "coupon, " presents an online audience with deep discounts on a product or service.

Unfortunately for Groupon and their competitors, the wolves are always hungry.

Add Groupon Inc. to the list of hot new Web companies having second thoughts about whether now is a good time to go public.

In January 2009, Groupon held its company holiday party at the small apartment of its CTO, Ken Pelletier.

Given Groupon's history and its business model, and the recent history of similar IPOs, the latter motive seems the more likely.

Earlier today, I argued that the SEC should simply eliminate its quiet period rules for pre-IPO companies -- like Groupon.

The problem with Groupon from a strategic perspective is the ripple effect that results from a promotion model purely focused on price.

Smaller services, like social-coupon company Groupon, continue to emerge with new social and community ideas consumers like.

In this case, 55tuan is one of many companies vying to become the Groupon of China.

But such measures do not reflect the risks of Groupon's model.

Groupon had originally been aiming to go public after Labor Day and to price its shares in mid-September, this person said.

More dangerously for Groupon, big online firms have begun to enter the fray.

Yahoo has enabled group buying via its shopping. yahoo. com portal, hoping to bring the smaller Groupon mentality to a bigger site.

Some of Groupon's most popular experiential deals include sky diving, sensory deprivation tanks, and winery tours, says Mossler.

Mason is one of Groupon's largest stockholders with more than 23 million shares.

Doubts about Groupon's business model had been well-publicized.

More important is exposure: Groupon, for instance, has more than half a million subscribers in the Los Angeles market alone.

In the case of Groupon the network effects are comparatively weak.

But of course, it also has some drawbacks, both for the vendors and for Groupon.

With hindsight it seems that Groupon perfectly used the brief window of opportunity the IPO market provided last month.

After spawning dozens of copycat sites, Groupon is now looking to IPO.

If not, every subsequent Groupon promotion will further erode this businesses profitability.

Companies, including Groupon, are taking advantage to create a unified approach to cloud-to-mobile user experience.

Landing a Groupon deal, even at a loss, can put a small business on the map.

Both Groupon Inc. and Zynga Inc. , the social game maker, have filed for public offerings that could occur in September or October.

Groupon aspires to be global, but the markets it serves are intensely local.

Groupon also allows merchants to charge different people different prices for the same product.

It won't charge retailers, merchants or consumers to use it. Rather, it intends on making money from offers, just like Groupon.

If so, though, daily deals will probably be just one of Groupon's offerings.

Groupon, the online coupon giant, recently formed an alliance with Tencent, China's biggest Internet company.

Ms. Holmes began at Groupon last August as a writer, then became an editor, then senior editor.

Users can "follow" stores they like and Groupon will take a relatively small 10% cut of deals placed on Groupon Stores.

Loopt's 5 million U. S. users will get alerts on their phones when they're close to participating merchants, the companies say.

Nine months in, Groupon switched to software specifically designed for the new business.

The analysts' mixed reviews reflect the ongoing questions surrounding Groupon.

Groupon has been described ( in this magazine and elsewhere) as the fastest growing company in history.

Groupon's webpage includes a guide to avoiding arguments with merchants, which suggests such tiffs are common.

In October the site announced a partnership with Groupon that will use location targeting to find local deals for consumers.

By forcing people to pay for their Groupon, restaurants lock in new customers in a way that old-fashioned coupons never could.

The name of Groupon's China site has enraged Mr Feng even more.

LivingSocial, Groupon's closest rival in the U. S. , raised $40 million since launching its service in July 2009.

Mr Dholakia has already seen signs of what the Urban Dictionary will probably call "Groupon fatigue" .

Groupon promotions aren't necessarily profitable for customers, either.

The campaign brought in $120, 000 at virtually no marginal cost to the exhibit; Groupon pocketed about 50% for a day's effort.

It has also been pushing into real time mobile offerings with Groupon Now.

We want the time people spend with Groupon to be memorable.

In short, Groupon is still the king of online discounts.

I think Groupon is going to be fine.

In 2009 and 2010, Groupon became a very lucrative place for a kid out of college to work.

Groupon's closest competitor, Living Social, is backed by Amazon, the retailing giant that has a history of winning.

The moves appears to mark an abrupt reversal of Groupon's aggressive expansion into China just eight months ago.

To ward off competition, neXtup reckons, Groupon will be forced to lower the share of revenue it keeps from its deals.

I showed my phone to the cashier, who had been trained to enter the Groupon codes.

While Quidsi and Zappos agreed to be acquired by Amazon, he notes that Groupon rejected Google's $6 billion offer.

While there are no public financials, Groupon does offer one potential indicator of its growth and size.

Instead, Groupon plans to keep all of its earnings to finance operations and expand.

In the rare cases when customers aren't satisfied or a business closes, websites including Groupon and LivingSocial issue full refunds.

Though both Google and Groupon run online businesses, they had significant differences.

The price Groupon was reported to have paid for CityDeals was "somewhere around $100 million. "

Groupon is approaching the markets with an operating loss equal to 18% of revenue.

Groupon declined comment, and there has been no response yet to an e-mail query sent to Tencent's PR group.

Groupon plans to use the proceeds for working capital and other purposes, including potential acquisitions.

Why is Groupon not merely a tech-bubble datum but a Ponzi scheme?

And now everyone was talking about it running out of cash!

Now Groupon is changing its model in response to competition and critics who say deals are too few and the cost is too high.

Setup a permanent (and free! ) e-commerce presence on Groupon for promoting their business.

Buying Groupon stock could be as bad a deal for investors as running a Groupon is for many merchants.

China represents less than 1% of Groupon's global revenue, according to a person familiar with the situation.

So effective that Mason claims Groupon now has 35, 000 companies clamoring to be on its roster.

The cover reads: "Groupon Is The Fastest-Growing Company . . . Ever: The New Web Phenom. "

Groupon, in particular, has grappled with a series of missteps.

It is the stables' first deal on Groupon: $18 for a one-hour ride for two people, half the regular price.

Now it's been joined by Groupon, Living Social, Foursquare and others, which are using software to eat the retail marketing industry.

If Groupon can help your business speed up turns on expensive inventory it's likely a worthwhile tactic.

All are seeking to raise less than $200 million. None has the buzz that Groupon generated.

This may explain why Google is so keen on a company like Groupon.

Groupon generated over $700 million in revenue in 2010, after being in business for only two years.

Addressing a new crop of writers at a training session, she seeks first to reassure.

The source said Groupon had previously expected to price its IPO in the middle of September.

and Meituan. com, another big player, each launched massive advertising campaigns ahead of Groupon's Chinese debut.

In May Groupon sold 6, 561 tickets to a King Tut exhibit in New York's Times Square for $18 apiece, little more than half the list price.

The merchant would get new customers. Groupon would take a cut.

Groupon's potential price tag ($15 billion, by one estimate) is already controversial.

Get a clear definition of relaxation with today's Groupon.

If you're already a regular somewhere, of course, then buying its Groupon is a no-brainer.

That's because, these days, the Samwer brothers run the Groupon sales force through their proxy, Groupon UK founder Chris Muhr.

Grouspawn, Groupon's new social dating service, "gives that incentive" that was never there before.

While Groupon and LivingSocial have gotten much attention for their local deals services, flash sales have also been growing fast.

Unlike so many dot-com rockets, Groupon is a real business.

And it has been testing a coupon service, called Google Offers, aimed directly at Groupon's business.

The latest step by Groupon comes during a particularly frenzied period for Web start-ups.

A Groupon spokeswoman didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Other sites, like LivingSocial and Groupon, also send out daily e-mails about the discounts they offer.

But some analysts say Groupon is no Amazon.

Groupon broke into the black just seven months after inception.

Q. Do you think Groupon is worth itsrumored initial public offering valuation of $25 billion?

Groupon's salespeople, most working in Chicago, earn salary plus commission, based on revenue and the ratio of refunds (usually negligible).

Groupon's breakthrough sprang not just from the deals but from an ingredient that was both unlikely and ephemeral: words.

He's at his desk in the middle of Groupon's wide open, call center-style office in Chicago.

Groupon offers daily discounts to members on items ranging from meals out and beauty treatments to flying lessons.

Maybe Groupon doesn't make strategic sense for your business. But it can still be effective when used tactically and in relevant situations.

Paying up front -- the Facebook and Groupon model -- annoys some users.

"Two-thirds of vendors are still very happy with Groupon, " says Dholakia.

Groupon's I. P. O, lawyers would never have let this memo go out if they had the opportunity to stop it.

The most well-known of the sites is Groupon. com, which lists daily deals in more than 40 metro markets.

The nature of Groupon redemptions also poses some operational challenges.

Once again, Groupon has built psychology into its business model.

How does Groupon's development philosophy compare your company's?

Groupon helps merchants manage capacity, too.

Last summer Utpal Dholakia of Rice University interviewed 150 businesses that had done Groupon promotions.

Research about the negative impact of services like Groupon is starting to surface.

With each Groupon you are essentially conditioning your existing customers to only frequent your business when there is a deal.

For budding Western startups like Groupon, China represents a lot of untapped potential.

Esther Dyson wrote a great article about the Groupon Paradox.

Though Groupon goes into new markets and targets the top restaurants in each food category, categories are nearly irrelevant in China.

Chicago-based local deals site Groupon, which has a similar model, is on a hiring spree here, but hasn't yet launched a Chinese website.

By this time, not only were consumers noticing Groupon, the press was catching on too.

One problem with the Groupon model: Anyone can replicate it.

And now that Groupon is finally going public, how will the Groupon story end?

In each neighbourhood, it must vie with copycats to sign up merchants.

Groupon's IPO will value the company at $12. 7 billion.

But isn't it really pretty obvious that Groupon is a massive Ponzi scheme?

Mossler says Groupon's size allows it to exert more stringent quality control.

First of all, Groupon's sales staff tries to cultivate deals that suit the audience in each city.

Observers also said Groupon should look to the failures of other western internet companies in China as a lesson.

Groupon's China venture, GaoPeng, is conducting mass layoffs at offices in more than 10 cities, according to a current employee.

The consumer knows that if they don't buy the Groupon now, they've missed their chance.

They are advertised on Groupon's phenomenally popular website. This is especially useful for new businesses that no one has heard of.

A Groupon spokeswoman declined to comment.

So the consumer education cost for Groupon model is nearly zero.

It allows people to start and promote campaigns, the same way Groupon promotes discounts.

Sweet said Groupon's roadshow, which is expected to start next week, will likely be contentious.

Two analogies come to mind when I think about Groupon and LivingSocial: "churn and burn" and "pump and dump. "

What the Samwer brothers really got was a humongous chunk of Groupon stock.

Ever since Google, in December, reportedly offered to buy Groupon for $6 billion, social coupons have been expanding like mad.

In November, Mr. Milley started PerDiemDeals. com, which sells Groupon-style coupons to small-business owners.

A student might buy theatre tickets on Groupon for half price.

Another big concern for Groupon will be ensureing that local companies are legitimate.

The rapid rise of social-media firms, such as Facebook, Twitter and Groupon, can give a falsely rosy impression of American enterprise.

Groupon plans eventually to introduce the program across its 300 markets.

I think the answer is obviously not: Groupons offer fairly substantial savings for virtually no effort.

Google was willing to pay $6 billon for Groupon, an online coupon company that was valued at $1. 35 billion only eight months ago.