Groupon Files $750 Million IPO - You Save 75% !
Hi Gang,
Internet bubble? What internet bubble?
Yesterday, Groupon filed the paperwork to become a publicly traded company. Sometime this year, you will be able to buy stock in Groupon and join the other 500 million people making Groupon stock discount jokes.
Last year, Groupon turned down a $6 BILLION offer from Google. Laughable, right? Well guess what: Greed is still good. Yesterdays filing valued Groupon at around $20 billion.
Here are the best of the fun facts about Groupon that we’ve learned in the last 24 hours:
1. Groupon LOST over $400 million last year
2. Groupon’s CEO Andrew Mason takes and annual salary of $575.00. Poor guy - I hope he’ll make it. Mason holds 7.7% of the companys stock.
3. Mason is NOT the largest shareholder. That honor belongs to Eric Lefkofsky, who owns 21.6%…of $20 BILLION dollars.
4. In the last 2 years, Groupon has grown over 20,000%
5. Groupon has 83.1 million subscribers in 145 US markets
6. Groupon has over 7,000 employees
7. Groupon. Is. THREE. YEARS. OLD.
Personally, this company and IPO remind me a lot of the “Irrational Exuberance” days of 2000 when any company with a .com in its’ name shot to the moon. I have 2 concerns with Groupon:
1. They just bleed money. They’ve lost $114 million in Q1 of 2011 alone.
2. Their model is easy to duplicate. With competitors like LivingSocial, Google, Facebook, and other very large fish jumping into the space, Groupon is in no way an island.
What do you think? Would you buy Groupon stock?
Kevin Harmon
CEO Red Shorts Media
twitter: imadness
linkedin: THEKevinHarmon
kevin@redshortsmedia.com
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June 5th, 2011 at 10:43 pm
Wow! Those are some crazy numbers! BUT I like what you said about them bleeding $$$, and not only is their model easy to duplicate, it’s easy to make better! For the business owner that is, Groupon takes 50% of the successful deals that come in, and If I was a business owner, I would tell Groupon, or Living Social to beat it, and come back when they have a real mid to long term marketing solution for me, not a restaurant packed with “Chronic Deal Seekers” that despite what they say, I will never see again, alot to swallow about groupon, I dont know, their company value I think is solely based on their marketing reach 83 Million subscribers. That’s some sway right there, BTW Everyone and their dog is getting in on group couponing, our local news paper is starting a similar deal, and a local radio station a few towns down, the first company to have the best interest of the business owners in mind will get a good chunk of the market. Especially after the business has already participated in a similar deal. What would make them do it a second time? Hmmm…..
June 7th, 2011 at 1:57 pm
Go Groupon Founders Go! Once you get that pay check, re-invest it in your community to help those around you. “Karma” :).
July 16th, 2012 at 9:23 pm
Yup. Groupon needs to innovate for them to get back to the Giant they used to be. It’s sad that they’re going down. Those numbers really tells a lot. That in business, the water runs deep.