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| Groupon |
Groupon (a portmanteau derived from "group coupon") is a deal-of-the-day website that features discounted gift certificates usable at local or national companies. Groupon was launched on November 2008, the first market for Groupon was Chicago, followed soon thereafter by Boston, New York City, and Toronto. As of October 2010, Groupon serves more than 150 markets in North America and 100 markets in Europe, Asia and South America and has amassed 35 million registered users.
The idea for Groupon was created by now-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 report conducted by Groupon's marketing association and reported in Forbes Magazine, which was reported by the Wall Street Journal, Groupon is "projecting that the company is on pace to make $1 billion in sales faster than any other business, ever".
Groupon also owns several international operations, all of which were originally deal-of-the-day services similar to it, but then re-branded under the Groupon name after acquisition; these have included the European-based MyCityDeal (17 May 2010), the South American ClanDescuento (22 June 2010), the Singaporean Beeconomic.com, the Japanese service Qpod.jp, Russian Darberry.ru (both on 17 August 2010). Groupon has recently bought the Indian deal-of-the-day website SoSasta.com and will be re-branding it soon as well. The Groupon acquisitions of uBuyiBuy launched services under the Groupon name in Hong Kong, Singapore, the Philippines and Taiwan. Groupon also acquired GroupsMore.com in Malaysia to expand its business there. Prior to these acquisitions, Groupon had bought out the mobile technology company Mob.ly. Groupon is preparing for a $25 billion IPO in 2011. The Point, Inc., the predecessor to Groupon, bought the trademark "GROUP-ONS" from its originator in February 2009 under terms which allows the originator and first registrant of the trademark to continue the use of this trademark.
Groupon serves many major geographic markets internationally including cites in the United States, Canada, Taiwan, Brazil, Germany, Greece, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, the United Kingdom, India, Israel, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Puerto Rico, Japan, Poland, Turkey, Mexico, Peru, Chile, Colombia, South Korea, Sweden, Argentina, the United Arab Emirates, Norway, Romania, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Mainland China, and Russia.
In Australia, development of Groupon has been slow owing to legal disputes between Groupon and an Australian company, Scoopon. Groupon now operates in Australia as "Stardeals" while the legal problems are worked out.
On February 19, 2011 The Wall Street Journal reported that Groupon was preparing to launch in China.
Groupon is also expanding into the MENA region with its launch of Groupon UAE on March 1, 2011.
Groupon New Zealand launched on 10th May 2011 in conjunction with local Facebook tourism hub Gotta Love NZ. The New Zealand market is already crowded with over 50 deal sites active.
Groupon aired a controversial Super Bowl XLV advertisement in which actor Timothy Hutton begins by making a plea for the people of Tibet before delivering the punch line: "But they still whip up an amazing fish curry." Critics of the ad took to several social media outlets to argue that Groupon was joking about the plight of Tibetans to sell their services. The following day, Groupon responded by defending their commercial and their philanthropic stance. The environmental organization Greenpeace praised Groupon's Super Bowl ads. On 10 February 2011, Groupon's founder Andrew Mason apologized and pulled the ad.
In March 2011, Eli R. Johnson filed a lawsuit in federal court against Groupon, based on a claim that the company issues "gift certificates" that are not allowed under the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act which prohibits retailers from setting expiration dates less than 5 years after a card is purchased.
Responding to concerns about Donald Trump's possible run for the U.S. presidency, in April 2011 Groupon said "Enough consumers have contacted us to warrant ensuring that we don't place ads on the 'Apprentice' home page in the future." The company said the action was to distance itself from "political criticism", and that "it's avoiding intentionally upsetting a segment of our customers."
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