Groupon backs away from scheduled IPO

Groupon may be having second thoughts about when, and if, it should go public, joining the growing list of new web companies unsure of their steps in the market. Groupon's roadshow, its bid to big up interest in its shares before the IPO, was due to start next week, but has now been called off, the Wall Street Journal reports …

[Anonymous Coward]

If only...

If only I could somehow stop the million Groupon pop-ups that appear when I'm browsing the net...

[paulf]

letters and/or digits

AdBlock Plus? (if you use FF).

Or the alternative supported by your browser of choice?

[Anonymous Coward]

Try using...

A browser newer than IE6 ? Or Adblock Plus. Etc.

[launcap]

re: If only

Ghostery, Adblock Plus and No-Script are your friends..

[shifty_powers]

Re: If Only...

Use an adblocker, as available for pretty much every available browser?

[mafoo]

Ponzi

If you look at how groupon is operating at the moment, it's disturbingly like a ponzi scheme.

[Andrew Moore]

Not really.

Groupon work by forcing companies to sell at a 60% discount and then take 50% of the remaining profit for themselves (plus tax). And they also keep all of the money in the event that the customer does not use their coupon.

[JB]

Sorta true

My wife bought me a groupon for a local microbrewery. When the brewery went out of business, Groupon refunded the money in full.

Still, I'm not defending them, definitely shaky ground. It makes me think of a dodgy character with a suitcase full of cash, but only the top layer is actually money, the rest is newspaper.

[Anonymous Coward]

Minor correction

Groupon's model is the heavy discount levied on the retailer/service provider, then Groupon take half the revenue, not profit, because there generally isn't profit left.

[Anonymous Coward]

May as well...

set fire to your money than invest in this company. Only got to read a few articles on the web about the founders, one such article published on here a couple of months back:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/06/11/eric_lefkofsky_of_groupon/

[Cliff]

Am I the only one

to remember the dotcomboomandbust of the early 21st century? Did nobody learn anything about web companies overvaluing themselves? Google can keep on subsidising youtube with advertising chump change (although half a billion dollars a year must still hurt), but Groupon will be a major lemon in anyone's portfolio. All the cash to date is going on promotion for a big IPO.