Groupon - part II

Earlier this year I already rumbled about Groupon. My opinion was not too favourable (mild words) [1]. I don't see why the business model should work apart from burning a lot of money from VCs and public stocks. More interestingly - I do not understand why Google wanted to buy Groupon - I thought they only buy cool, working stuff. And Groupon is the opposite.

These days some new evidence occurred that Groupon is losing a lot of money [2] and customers [3]. Apparently around 180 million USD last year and around 100 million USD already this year (and we still have 6 months to go).

This reminds me of the Samwer brothers active in Germany. Build a business using a large tag team and a huge marketing machinery. Then sell it as fast as you can as the business will go bust. The Samwer brothers made millions using that approach. Will Groupon make millions for its current owners, too?

I guess you know my answer already.


[1] http://ars-machina.raphaelbauer.com/2011/02/groupon-opinion.html
[2] http://www.businessinsider.com/groupons-north-american-merchant-pool-declined-in-q2-2011-8
[3] http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1490281/000104746911007178/a2204399zs-1a.htm