Ten years ago today, Groupon turned down Google’s US$6bil offer – here’s what’s happened since

It was the “WHAT?” heard round Chicago’s tech and enterprise neighborhood 10 years in the past as we speak: E-commerce offers platform Groupon spurned a US$6bil (RM24.36bil) buyout supply from Google and selected to go it alone.

The rejection got here throughout heady instances for Groupon, which launched within the fall of 2008 with a two-for-one pizza deal at a Chicago bar and shortly grew to become Chicago’s tech darling. By late 2010 it had grown to some 1,500 Chicago-area staff and moved into worldwide markets. Forbes, in a canopy story, proclaimed it the fastest-growing firm in historical past.

Customers waited for the day by day e-mail blast with the deal of the day from an area enterprise, communicated by a staff of writers who favoured cheekiness. “I’ve received a Groupon” grew to become the rallying cry for waxings, restaurant outings and cleansing providers, and was welcomed by retailers attempting to climb again from the Nice Recession.

However a lot has modified since then. Right here’s a fast catch-up.

The Google supply

Groupon reached out to Google whereas the Chicago firm was being courted by Yahoo, in response to co-founder Andrew Mason. Yahoo “was form of this graveyard for cool corporations”, Mason instructed New York Journal in 2018.

However regardless of initiating the dialog, Groupon handed on Google. “We checked out our numbers, and we have been simply rising quicker than ever,” Mason instructed the journal. “We appeared on the supply we have been getting from Google, and Google appeared prefer it might have been an important residence. However we felt prefer it was enjoyable to do an unbiased firm, and we thought we might make more cash doing it that means.”

Going public

A yr after strolling away from Google, Groupon went public, pricing its preliminary public providing at US$20 (RM81) a share and elevating US$700mil (RM2.84bil) in what on the time was the biggest preliminary public providing by a US tech since Google in 2004. Its valuation on the finish of its first buying and selling day was US$16.6bil (RM67.39bil).

It got here again all the way down to earth fairly shortly. Lower than two weeks after its debut, shares tumbled and it’s been a bumpy trip ever since.

In June, the corporate had a reverse inventory break up, the place each 20 shares have been transformed into one share. The transfer got here after the inventory was buying and selling as lower than US$1 (RM4) in March, a sum that might have led to a inventory delisting by Nasdaq.

On Wednesday, shares closed at US$31.40 (RM127.48), giving it a market cap of US$905mil (RM3.67bil).

Adjustments on the prime

Opponents have been quickly nipping at its heels, outcomes began to falter, and the buck stopped at CEO Mason’s door. He was fired in February 2013 and moved to the West Coast.

Co-founder Eric Lefkofsky took over as CEO. In November 2015, chief working officer Wealthy Williams changed Lefkofsky and mentioned he’d emphasise Groupon’s market and Items merchandise relatively than day by day offers.

Williams was ousted in March.

Working the corporate now’s Aaron Cooper, who joined Google in 2010 and had most not too long ago served as North American president.

Restructurings

There have been a number of over the previous decade, with the corporate reducing staff and altering its focus backwards and forwards between day by day offers and merchandise offered by way of Groupon Items.

This yr, in April, Groupon mentioned it might lay off or furlough about 2,800 staff, representing 44% of its workforce. Its board adopted a shareholder rights plan, generally referred to as a “poison tablet,” to defend Groupon in opposition to any bids to take management of the corporate.

In Could, the corporate put up for sublease 150,000 sq. toes of area at its headquarters at 600 W. Chicago Ave.

For the primary 9 months of 2020, Groupon misplaced greater than US$300mil (RM1.21bil), in contrast with US$91mil (RM369.46mil) within the year-ago interval.

Pandemic purchases

Interim CEO Cooper has been upbeat in latest earnings calls with analysts and investor shows. The trail ahead consists of providing offers with few restrictions and decrease low cost provides.

The pattern towards self-care through the pandemic has helped Groupon. Simply within the three months that resulted in September, prospects in North America spent virtually US$20mil (RM81.20mil) on massages, and greater than US$15mil (RM60.90mil) on Botox, Cooper mentioned.

“I’ll say that although Covid definitely makes issues tougher, now we have clear momentum on the service provider aspect,” Cooper mentioned throughout a third-quarter earnings name final month. “The retailers are engaged. They’re saying sure to bringing the shoppers again and again repeatedly and… we all know that extra stock is what our prospects need, in order that we all know that we’re on the important path to progress.” – Chicago Tribune/Tribune Information Service