Original post by Ben Parr from mashable.com
About the author: Ben Parr is the Co-Editor of Mashable, as well as a tech entrepreneur, sci-fi author, and aspiring world changer. He first started writing for Mashable in August 2008. In addition to his duties at Mashable, Ben works on his own start-up ideas and recently completed his first sci-fi thriller novel, Desel. His previous experience includes project management for Facebook apps and content management in the web health space. [...]
Forget the rumor that Google acquired Groupon for $2.5 billion; the search giant is about to close a deal for the group-buying service for a whopping $5.3 billion to $6 billion, according to multiple reports.
It would be worth every penny.
The deal is worth $5.3 billion with an additional $700 million earnout based on performance, according to All Things D. The New York Times reports that a deal could be completed as soon as this week. With a price tag almost double that of DoubleClick, Google's biggest acquisition to date, there are still plenty of ways for this deal to fall apart.Earlier this year, Yahoo tried to snag the group-buying company, but failed. Google, with its $30+ billion cash reserve, reportedly then offered Groupon $3 billion to $4 billion. However, it was rebuffed, so the tech giant upped its offer.
Groupon pioneered the group-buying model through its deal-of-the-day business model. Launched in November 2008, the company has grown from an offshoot of ThePoint to a multi-billion dollar empire with thousands of employees worldwide. In April 2010, Groupon raised $135 million from Digital Sky Technologies, setting its value at over $1 billion.
If the Google deal does go through at a $6 billion valuation, that would mean that Groupon's value has grown by more than $625 million per month or more than $20.8 million per day. That skyrocketing value is simply mindboggling.
Acquiring Groupon: Overpriced or a Genius Move?
See also:Will Groupon's Fate Be Decided Tomorrow? (Mashable) | New in Labs: Recently used emoji (gmail blog)
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