It’s been second time in a row when Groupon, a leader in daily discount deals company, has turned down another lucrative acquisition offer. This time it was Google which has been thrown to the wall by Groupon management. Earlier today, Groupon has finally decided to turn down $6 Billion acquisition offer from Google and decided to move on with their future expansion plan with next round of funding, as reported by Chicago Breaking News.
CBN said that Groupon may not come out with any such statement until Monday as company don’t want to get stuck with various speculation or rumors on failed attempt by Google. Instead Group may go for public offer by end of 2011 or early 2012.
Prior, Groupon had turned down $3 Billion acquisition offer from Yahoo early this year. The latest rejection of Google’s Offer is a milestone in Groupon’s dazzling journey. From a struggling website – ThePoint – to a successful billion dollar venture – www.grouon.com – in just two year is a clear indication of promising future growth which other companies are aiming to grab.
Groupon, started from Chicago two years back, currently have more than 3000 employees and presence in 35 countries. Company is expecting to achieve $500 million as revenue this year.
On the other side, Groupon acquisition was a separate attempt by Google which is currently going through some stiff competition from Facebook & Intel in social media & mobile industry respectively. Google is still struggling to find an answer for Facebook and upcoming MeeGo OS, developed jointly by Intel, Nokia & Linux, is going to challenge the supremacy of Android in OS market.
With latest move, Groupon apparently follow the foot mark of Facebook. Interestingly, Facebook has been turned down multiple acquisition offers in early stage of company’s formation. Almost every titans from Industry, including Microsoft, Google, MySpace & Yahoo, tried to take over Facebook with wholesome offer of $750 Million to $3 Billion. Instead, Mark Zuckerberg kept his nerves tight and walked away from every possible acquisition opportunity. Finally, Mark’s decision paid off lately and today Facebook stands on a whopping valuation of more than $40 Billion.
Certainly, it was not easy for Andrew Mason, CEO & Founder of Groupon, to walk away from negotiation table with throwing such lucrative offer but hopefully it may be just a beginning of another Facebook or Google under formation.
UPDATE: It has been reported that Groupon is expected to secure $2 Billion as revenue this year instead $500 million, as reported earlier. Perhaps this hidden string is one of the major reasons behind Google’s $6 Billion offer to Groupon which got failed toady.
Well said Chethan. I agree with your thought process. Its not important who much you cover, its important what you cover and by which way. No surprise if Google wll come back to Groupon after 1 yr with $10 Billion+ offer. All these efforts by Google are just to save their supremacy not for expansion. Google is really getting some tough fight from Facebook, Groupon, Intel.
Groupon has taken the right decision as per my view. There is no such hard written rule that you have to accept the acquisition offers laid on the table by biggies. Moreover, people think that Google Search is nothing but the entire web. But, that’s not true. The web is a vast ocean and Google is a blue whale swimming in it. Google Search exhibits the search results on its SERPs derived from its database and people think that it searches the web. After-all that’s a misconception as well. When you have enough space to grow, why have only one Google? You can have plenty of them and everyone has enough space to live within this vast ocean called The Web.