Groupon (global)

Groupon is a deal-of-the-day website that features discounted gift certificates usable at local or national companies. Groupon was launched in November 2008, and the first market for Groupon was Chicago, followed soon thereafter by Boston, New York City, and Toronto. By October 2010 Groupon served more than 150 markets in North America and 100 markets in Europe, Asia and South America and had 35 million registered users. The idea for Groupon was created by current CEO and Pittsburgh native Andrew Mason. The idea subsequently gained the attention of his former employer, Eric Lefkofsky, who provided $1 million in seed money to develop the idea. In April 2010, the company was valued at $1.35 billion. According to a December 2010 report conducted by Groupon's marketing association and reported in Forbes Magazine and the Wall Street Journal, Groupon was projecting that the company is on pace to make $1 billion in sales faster than any other business, ever. However, a report from Forrester Research in October 2011 suggested that the Groupon business model was a disaster and that the firm had become an example of how fast an Internet darling can fall. In its first earnings release as a public company, Groupon reported a fourth-quarter 2011 loss of $9.8 million on an adjusted basis, disappointing investors. Additional investor concern arose after the company restated 2011 revenues downward in March of 2012.