Coupons, Groupon | featured news

Andrew Mason isn’t leaving Groupon empty handed... One thing is crystal clear already: Mason has a tidy nest egg — roughly $260 million — to spend on whatever tropical island he may hit to nurse his wounds, or to splurge on the fat camp he referenced in a letter to employees.

Struggling online deals pioneer Groupon has ousted its quirky founder and CEO Andrew Mason amid worries that people are tiring of the myriad of online restaurant, spa and Botox deals that Groupon built its business on.

Another day, another low for Groupon's stock. The online deals company issued a lackluster quarterly report after the market closed on Monday. Since Tuesday, the stock has hit a new low every day. It fell another 25 cents, or 5 percent, to close Friday at $4.75. Earlier in the day, it hit $4.51. That's down more than three-quarters of its initial public offering price of $20 in November.

I wrote here at Forbes in May about the dangerous trend of unaudited numbers being used by companies, media, and investors to evaluate the potential of these IPOs... As long as they get their return before the gig is up, who cares what the real story is?

Groupon is going to wait at least a couple of weeks before launching the final phase of its initial public offering because regulators still have questions for the daily deals website and the stock market is too volatile, a person familiar with the situation said on Tuesday.

Groupon Inc's rapid growth has attracted rivals and regulators, a twin threat to the largest online daily deal company as it gets ready for an initial public offering.

As Groupon clones have proliferated, the loyalty to Groupon of both consumers and merchants offering online deals has eroded.

Groupon was forced to restate fourth quarter earnings, sending its stock down 6% in after-hours trading. This surprised me as much as my $2 investment in the Mega Millions jackpot not paying off.

Daily deals site Groupon Inc filed for an initial public offering, hoping to capitalize on the biggest investor stampede into Web start-ups since the dotcom bubble burst a decade ago.

Groupon is expected to pick Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley as its two lead underwriters for an IPO planned later this year. The IPO is expected to value the Chicago company at between $15 billion and $20 billion, these people said. The valuation could change depending on market conditions at the time of the IPO.