Despite only having reported revenues of $500 million, Groupon founder, Andrew Mason rejected a six billion dollar take-over offer from Google.
It’s also been revealed that the company has over a billion dollars (possibly two) in revenue as opposed to the $500 million that has been reported.
Some analysts are now likening electronic coupon company to the early days of Facebook when several companies offered to take over the fledgling social network company with offers of between four and six billion dollars. Today, Facebook is valued at $40 billion.
Both Google and Groupon are refraining from commenting, but rumours have put Groupon on a potential public listing early next year.
While it’s been established that revenue for the business is potentially in the billions, the profit margins are yet to be updated since the million dollar per week sum reported earlier this year.
The dot-com enterprise that has grown faster than Amazon, eBay, Yahoo and YouTube (who is still awaiting profit) has been targeted by a succession of law suits, including a new suit since talks of Google’s take-over bid began.
Online discounter, eWinWin has alleged that Groupon has violated four of their patents, while Groupon alleged smaller group buying site, MobGob of violating a nine year old patent just last month. eWinWin claims that it is entitled to part of Groupon’s profits due to the alleged infringement.
