Pinboard (guardiantech)

SEC Probes Groupon >> WSJ.com

guardiantech — 2012-04-03T06:39:25+00:00

What's the deal, here?

Groupon revisions expose risk as new model outpaces controls >> SF Chronicle

guardiantech — 2012-04-02T20:47:25+00:00

Following on from yesterday's link about a "sub-prime" lender:

The Chicago-based company reported a "material weakness" in financial controls on March 30 and said fourth-quarter sales were lower than previously stated because of higher refunds to merchants. That cut revenue in the period - Groupon's first as a public company - by $14.3 million to $492.2 million.
The announcement added to setbacks for Groupon, which has struggled to get its financial statements in order since filing for an initial public offering in June. The company abandoned an accounting method for operating income after a review by regulators and later restated 2010 results.

Why Groupon is poised for collapse >> VentureBeat

guardiantech — 2012-04-01T21:45:17+00:00

Why?

for starters, it’s not a coupon company nor a marketing company. At its core, Groupon’s U.S. business is a receivables factoring business, as I wrote last year. They give loans to small businesses at a very steep rate (the price of the discount plus Groupon’s commission). They get the money to fund these loans from credit card companies such as Chase Paymentech. Groupon is essentially a sub-prime lender that does zero risk assessment. And as word continues to spread about what a terrible deal running a Groupon is for many categories of businesses, the ones that will choose to run Groupons are the ones that are the most desperate. For U.S. based businesses, the only time I can definitely recommend running a Groupon is if it is otherwise going to go out of business.

Compelling.

Groupon Falls 13%: Q4 Rev Beats, Q1 View Tops Estimates >> Barrons.com

guardiantech — 2012-02-08T22:13:10+00:00

Online coupon distributor Groupon (GRPN), in its first report since going public, this afternoon reported Q4 revenue ahead of analysts’ expectations but reported a surprise net loss instead of the expected profit.

Groupon Announces Fourth Quarter 2011 Results >> Groupon

guardiantech — 2012-02-08T22:12:00+00:00

How Groupon Was Founded >> Business Insider

guardiantech — 2011-11-01T08:32:32+00:00

Impossible to tell how much of this is true, but a fascinating insight into what BI calls "the world's most controversial company" days before its IPO.

How to justify Groupon’s valuation >> Felix Salmon

guardiantech — 2011-10-28T16:09:50+00:00

"Think of it like this: up until now, Groupon has been selling daily deals to customers. And it’s now ready to pivot, and start selling customers to merchants on many other fronts."

Groupon seeks offering near $12 billion valuation >> NYTimes.com

guardiantech — 2011-10-19T20:58:53+00:00

"Groupon, the daily deal site, is considering an offering valued at close to $12 billion as it prepares for an investor road show next week, according to two people with knowledge of the situation." But if enough people come in then you can get it cheaper?

Groupon’s Stumbles May Force a Smaller IPO >> Bloomberg

guardiantech — 2011-10-03T19:27:21+00:00

"The valuation might need to drop to as low as $3 billion to $5 billion to entice shareholders, said Josef Schuster, founder of IPOX Schuster LLC, which invests in IPOs. That’s a fraction of $25 billion that was said to be discussed as a potential valuation when Groupon met with underwriters earlier this year. It’s also below the $6 billion Google Inc. (GOOG) offered last year." Regrets, I've had a few, but then again...

Where Did Groupon’s Billion Dollars Go? >> AllThingsD

guardiantech — 2011-06-03T07:07:37+00:00

"The details: Groupon raised a total of $946 million in two funding rounds last winter. It kept $136 million of it help run the money-losing company. The remaining $810 million was paid out, via stock purchases, to CEO Andrew Mason and some of his backers, including Eric Lefkofsky, and, notably, the Samwer brothers, who sold their CityDeal company to Groupon in 2010."

Microsoft enters daily deals space using Sweden as testbed >> AllaDeals Blog

guardiantech — 2011-04-18T21:12:20+00:00

"Microsoft has partnered up with Swedish business directory Lokaldelen to launch a new daily deals service called Lokaldealen. The exact circumstances surrounding this partnership is unclear, but we do however know that Microsoft will be responsible for marketing the deals on their MSN portal as well as their display ad network (Hotmail & Live) while Lokaldelen will take care of sales and website administration. According to Swedish business newspaper Dagens Industri (2011-04-06), Lokaldealen already has a sales force of 300 strong lined up in 12 districts around the country."

Watch out, Groupon.