Did Google Buy Groupon For $2.5 Billion?
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We’re all aware that Google is exceptionally fond of acquiring all companies that have something to offer. If you’re a small company holding technologies that might improve Google’s current services then chances are the search engine giant will eventually come up with an offer and want to acquire you. The company has so far scored over 20 acquisitions this year alone and we’re expecting it to end the year with a slightly larger acquisition or at least a couple more small ones.
The big rumor of today is about Google and a company it has allegedly bought. As Mashable reports, Google may have recently bought Groupon for $2.5 billion. This news isn’t confirmed so far but it comes right after some rumors regarding Google’s holding talks to buy Groupon. Earlier this year Yahoo also showed some interest in Groupon but only went as far as negotiating. The sum offered on that occasion was somewhere between $2-4 billion. The two companies didn’t strike a deal.
If you haven’t heard of Groupon so far, it’s a deal of the day website for the US and Canada. The site was launched in 2008 and it has become quite popular since then. Reportedly it has revenues of over $50 million per month and there are already plenty of sites that are trying to copy Groupon’s model (a great indicator of how successful a site really is).
The site also has 20 million subscribers so far and divisions in multiple countries in Europe, the US and Asia. While Groupon has apparently been courted by multiple large companies, it has so far chosen to keep independent. In October the site even entered a partnership with eBay through which it would bring local deals to eBay shoppers by using geo-targeting to find offers from users’ geographic locations.
Naturally, Google who is always looking for new services and ideas to add to its own services could benefit a lot from purchasing Groupon. As Mashable explains, Google could combine Groupon’s deals with its local business directory called Google Places, while Groupon would have the advantage of having the huge search engine giant as support and it’d fend off other similar services much easier. So, did Google actually buy Groupon or is this just a rumor. Well, on one hand, we’ve heard of Google buying Groupon on a previous occasion and that rumor didn’t amount to anything. On the other hand, the last three or four rumors of the search engine giant actually acquiring something resulted in an official announcement from Google confirming the deal. I guess we’ll have to sit around for a couple of days and see if Google has any intention of revealing any additional details. Meanwhile, neither of the two companies will comment on the deal.
