Groupon
 |
|
| Type of business | Public |
|---|---|
|
Type of site
|
Online deal marketplace |
| Traded as | NASDAQ: GRPN |
| Headquarters | Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A |
| Area served | Global |
| Founder(s) |
Andrew Mason Eric Lefkofsky Brad Keywell |
| Chairman | Eric Lefkofsky |
| CEO | Rich Williams |
| Industry | Electronic commerce |
| Revenue |
 US$3.11 billion (2015) |
| Net income |
 US$20.66 million (2015) |
| Employees | 10,000 (2013) |
| Website | www |
| Alexa rank |
267 (August 2015[update]) |
| Launched | November 2008 |
| Current status | Active |
| Native client(s) on | iOS, watchOS, Android, Windows Phone |
Groupon is an American worldwide e-commerce marketplace connecting millions of subscribers with local merchants by offering activities, travel, goods and services in more than 28 countries. Based in Chicago, 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 was available in 150 cities in North America and 100 cities in Europe, Asia and South America, and had 35 million registered users. By the end of March 2015, Groupon served more than 500 cities worldwide, nearly 48.1 million active customers and featured more than 425,000 active deals globally.
The idea for Groupon was created by now-ousted CEO and Pittsburgh nativeAndrew 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."
In its first earnings release as a public company, Groupon reported a 2011 fourth-quarter loss of $9.8 million on an adjusted basis, disappointing investors. Additional investor concern arose after the company restated 2011 revenues downward in March 2012.
The idea that would eventually become Groupon was born out of founder Andrew Mason's frustration trying to cancel a cell phone contract in 2006. Mason thought that there must be some way to leverage large number of people's collective bargaining power. In 2007 Mason launched The Point, a web platform based on the "tipping point" principle that would utilize social media to get people together to accomplish a goal. The Point was intended to organize people around some sort of cause or goal. It gained only modest traction in Chicago, until a group of users decided their cause would be saving money. They wanted to round up people to buy the same product in order to receive a group discount. Founder Eric Lefkofsky wanted the company to pivot in order to focus entirely on group buying. Born from The Point, Groupon was launched in November 2008.
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