Posted on 12/06/2010 7:35:23 AM PST by pinstripes715
The deal didn’t tip after all.
Chicago-based Groupon Inc. has turned down an acquisition offer from Google Inc. and is staying independent, two sources with direct knowledge of the situation said Friday.
The two companies had been engaged in talks, with speculation about the marriage reaching a fever pitch over the last week. Mountain View, Calif.-based Google reportedly had offered between $5 billion and $6 billion for the daily deal start-up.
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagobreakingbusiness.com ...
Amazing on the part of the Groupon team. How does one turn down 6 billion dollars? Hopefully this is not a decision they will regret.
We’ve used Groupon for discounted hockey tickets and a few other items.
They’re morons. You have to be batshit crazy to decline that kind of $$$. Unless, of course, they’re talking to MSFT for $7B.
I think if you’re in a position to receive $6 billion, you’re not a moron, even if you reject it. That’s for sure. Obviously, this is bold but I’m sure they know more about their company than you do. Does anyone use it?
Look at Yahoo. They rejected Microsoft and are still going nowhere.
Here’s the funny thing...I never heard of groupon before google started talks to buy them. Groupon just got a ton of free advertising. That may have been their plan all along—if so pretty damn smart.
Yea lots of people do. But think about the valuation - $5-6B ? Hell YouTube sold for $1.5B and I doubt Groupon has that kind of market penetration. I guess I’ll take that back - I’m just criticizing their decision not to sell at that price. From my experience in 2000s, if someone offers you 50x revenue you take the money and run laughing to the bank.
I agree..can’t believe they turned it down. Make NO sense. Unless....well..here’s a cynical thought. Suppose that Groupcon’s books are well..less than kosher...so that once Google started digging into the financials, thewy’d probably end up walking away fromt he deal, and Groupcon didn’t want that to come out..
It’s hard to imagine that Google can’t penetrate a market for targeted coupons without having to buy Groupon.
So unless Groupon actually owned patents or copyrights that would prevent any other company from competing, this seems like a bad move. Google’s offer of billions of dollars shows Google wants to invest in this business.
Google has a database of pretty much EVERY internet user’s deepest darkest secrets — exactly what sites they visit. They can use this to deliver coupons well-targeted to people who will use them. How hard can it be for them to get up to where Groupon is now?
It seems that a billion dollars would buy them what they needed, and I can’t see Groupon winning the battle in the end, not with Google re-directing ever search for COUPON to the google business, rather than Groupon.
It’s not like Groupon was the only company competing in this business, or that they had already acheived a critical market penetration.
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