Google Inc.’s attempt to buy local-coupon site Groupon Inc. appears to have failed for now, according to published reports.
Groupon, whose ties to local merchants and some 35 million subscribers worldwide made it a company worth potentially $5 billion to $6 billion to Google, has decided to stay independent for now, according to the Chicago Tribune, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, which cited unnamed sources close to the negotiations. The reports say Groupon may pursue an initial public offering of stock.
Messages by The Associated Press for Google and Groupon representatives were not immediately returned Saturday.
Groupon, a two-year-old startup based in Chicago, dangles a different bargain each day to people signed up for the service.
Google was pursuing Groupon in an attempt to turn the Internet’s largest advertising network into an even more powerful marketing vehicle. It would have marked the highest price that Google paid for a company, eclipsing its $3.2 billion purchase of online advertising service DoubleClick Inc. in 2008.
Forrester Research retail analyst Sucharita Mulpuru said Groupon made a mistake if the reported $5 billion figure had been an up-front cash payment “because that was the best the company would do on a valuation standpoint.”
But Mulpuru said that if the proposed payout was some kind of staggered deal, subject to Groupon meeting certain performance targets over the next few years, walking away “wasn’t such a bad idea, because they probably weren’t going to meet those hurdles.”
Groupon’s aggressive expansion may mean that the site is “already coming up against diminishing returns, and that’s been fundamentally one of the biggest challenges of this space,” she said in an interview with the AP. “The success of the business is based on great deals, and to get great deals, you have to have a lot of salespeople out there selling, and that’s an expensive way to grow a business.”
Groupon employs about 3,000 people and is run by its 30-year-old founder, Andrew Mason.
Groupon has spawned numerous copycats, including LivingSocial, CrowdSavings, BloomSpot, Tippr and Scoop St. The mimicry has raised worries among some analysts that Google is paying far too much for a business that can so easily be cloned.
But Google could have easily afforded the deal, with $33 billion in cash as of Sept. 30. Mulpuru said a technology company such as Google might be willing to pay more than the company’s value to keep it out of the hands of rivals such as Yahoo Inc. and Microsoft Corp.
The privately held company raised about $165 million in venture capital to get off the ground.
Besides North America, Groupon also operates in South America, Europe and Asia.
Apple and Google Face UK Investigation Into Mobile Browser Dominance
Apple and Google aren't giving consumers a genuine choice of mobile web browsers, a British watchdog said Friday in a report that recommends they face an investigation under new U.K. digital rules taking effect next year.
The Competition and Markets Authority took aim at Apple, saying the iPhone maker's tactics hold back innovation by stopping rivals from giving users new features like faster webpage loading. Apple does this by restricting progressive web apps, which don't need to be downloaded from an app store and aren't subject to app store commissions, the report said.
"This technology is not able to fully take off on iOS devices," the watchdog said in a provisional report on its investigation into mobile browsers that it opened after an initial study concluded that Apple and Google effectively have a chokehold on "mobile ecosystems."
The CMA's report also found that Apple and Google manipulate the choices given to mobile phone users to make their own browsers "the clearest or easiest option."
And it said that the a revenue-sharing deal between the two U.S. Big Tech companies "significantly reduces their financial incentives" to compete in mobile browsers on Apple's iOS operating system for iPhones.
Both companies said they will "engage constructively" with the CMA.
Apple said it disagreed with the findings and said it was concerned that the recommendations would undermine user privacy and security.
Google said the openness of its Android mobile operating system "has helped to expand choice, reduce prices and democratize access to smartphones and apps" and that it's "committed to open platforms that empower consumers."
It's the latest move by regulators on both sides of the Atlantic to crack down on the... Read More