Spectre Brands

GhostLocal deals marketplace · Chicago, Illinois

Groupon

Started selling deals in October 2008. Still operating, and still listed on the Nasdaq, as of its filing of August 6, 2026.

Groupon is not dead. It is a company that was once valued at $16.7 billion on its first day of trading and has spent the years since getting smaller.

Why ghost: Groupon, Inc. is not defunct: it still operates and trades on the Nasdaq as GRPN, but its 2025 revenue of $498.4M is 84% below the $3.19B it first reported for 2014, its 16.2M active customers are down from 53.9M, its 1,734 employees are down from 11,843, and its shares went through a 1-for-20 reverse split in 2020 (percentages derived).561117

Unstyled archived page titled The Daily Groupon with a deal for orchestra tickets
“The Daily Groupon,” Nov 2008
Groupon home page in 2022 with category tiles and a sign-up prompt
The marketplace, Jan 2022
Groupon wordmark in white on a dark tilted panel
The logo, Jan 2011Cropped from an Internet Archive capture of groupon.com. Shown for commentary; trademarks belong to their owners.

The daily deal was the fastest thing the consumer internet had seen: from $14.5M of revenue in 2009 to $1.6B in 2011. Groupon turned down a reported $6 billion from Google, went public at $20 a share and fired its founder sixteen months later. The company is still here. It reported a small rise in revenue for 2025. But it has about one in seven of the employees it had at its peak, and one share today stands for twenty of the shares sold in 2011. This page explains why we file it under ghosts, and gives the figures as of its latest filings.

The company in four numbers

$16.7B
market value at the close of its first trading day, Nov 4, 2011, as reported by Reuters23
53.9M
active customers at the end of 2014, the highest year-end figure in its annual reports5
16.2M
active customers at the end of 202517
1,734
employees on Dec 31, 2025, against 11,843 at the end of 2014517

Key findings

  1. It is alive, and much smaller. Revenue was $498.4M in 2025 against $3.19B in 2014, as first reported. Gross profit, the fairer measure, fell from $1.62B in 2012 to $452.5M.51720 Both rose slightly in 2025.18
  2. The customers left. Active customers went from 53.9M at the end of 2014 to 16.2M at the end of 2025, and the company went from 47 countries to 13.517
  3. The category went with them. Facebook ended its deals test after four months in 2011, Google shut its self-serve offers product in 2014 and Amazon closed Amazon Local in 2015. Groupon took over LivingSocial in 2016 for a price it called “not material.”2728267
  4. Half of its revenue was low-margin merchandise. In 2019 the Goods category was 50% of revenue and 17% of gross profit (derived). Groupon announced in February 2020 that it would leave it.930
  5. It lost money in 12 of the 15 years from 2011 to 2025. Net income attributable to Groupon was positive only in 2015, 2017 and 2021. The accumulated deficit stood at $1.59B at the end of 2025.1720

Post-mortem No. 008 · Every figure links to a numbered source · Derived figures, estimates and unverified claims are labeled

The story

The fastest-growing company on the internet, and what was left afterwards

Groupon did not go bankrupt and did not close. It shrank. This is the story of a business model that grew faster than almost anything before it, and of the smaller company that still carries the name.

Chapter 1 of 6

$14.5M

revenue in 2009, the first full year of selling Groupons

Unstyled archived web page headed The Daily Groupon, offering Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra tickets at 74 dollars off
groupon.thepoint.com as archived on Nov 5, 2008, about a month after the first deal. The capture did not save the stylesheet, so the page appears unstyled.29

2007 – 2009 · The pivot

A side project on a site for group action

Before Groupon there was The Point, a website launched in November 2007 that let people pledge money or action that would only be collected once enough others joined.1 The company was incorporated in Delaware on January 15, 2008 as ThePoint.com, Inc.5 In his letter to IPO investors, founder Andrew Mason wrote that Groupon “started as a side project in October 2008” and “applied The Point’s technology to group buying.”1

The first deals ran at groupon.thepoint.com. An archived page from November 2008 is headed “The Daily Groupon” and explains the rule: “You only get the discount if enough people join that day.”29 By January 2009, Mason wrote, “we had fully shifted our attention to Groupon.”1 Revenue was $5,000 in 2008 and $14.5M in 2009.1

Chapter 2 of 6

~$6B

Google’s offer, as reported by Fortune on Dec 4, 2010. Not confirmed in a filing

Interview · 2010Andrew Mason at DEMO Fall 2010 VentureBeat’s interview with the founder, uploaded September 15, 2010, three months before the reported Google offer.21 He describes how Groupon grew out of The Point. Watch on YouTube

2010 · The offer

Turning down Google

Revenue went from $14.5M in 2009 to $312.9M in 2010. The net loss attributable to Groupon went from $1.3M to $389.6M.1 The model was simple and easy to copy: a merchant agreed to a steep discount, Groupon emailed it to a city’s subscribers, and Groupon kept a share of what customers paid.1

In early December 2010, Fortune reported that “Groupon’s board turned down offers of around $6 billion from Google,” adding that the purchase would have dwarfed the $1.65 billion Google paid for YouTube.21 The figure comes from press reports. We did not find the talks described in Groupon’s prospectus, which names Google only as a competitor and an advertising channel.

Chapter 3 of 6

5 days

from the Super Bowl broadcast on Feb 6, 2011 to NPR’s report that the ads were pulled (derived)

Commercial · 2011“Save the Money: Tibet,” the Super Bowl XLV spot Uploaded on February 6, 2011, the day of the game. It opens as an appeal for Tibet and turns into a pitch for a restaurant discount. Groupon apologised and pulled the campaign within the week.22 Watch on YouTube

Feb 2011 · The ad

“Save the money”

Groupon bought airtime around Super Bowl XLV. The spots opened like charity appeals for Tibet, the rainforest and whales, then turned into pitches for a discount. NPR reported that viewers “thought they poked fun at some serious issues,” and that the company pulled the campaign.22

“We hate that we offended people, and we’re very sorry that we did — it’s the last thing we wanted,” Mason wrote on the company’s site.22 The episode did not slow the business. By September 30, 2011 Groupon counted 142.9M subscribers, 10,418 employees and operations in 45 countries.1

Chapter 4 of 6

$20.00

IPO price on Nov 4, 2011. The shares closed that day at $26.11

A voucher with a clock on it: the daily deal, as sold. Original illustration.

Nov 2011 – Feb 2013 · The IPO

Public at $20, and a founder fired

Groupon sold 35 million shares at $20, raising $700M.1 Reuters called it the largest IPO by a U.S. internet company since Google’s in 2004. The stock closed its first day at $26.11, valuing the company at $16.7 billion.23

On March 30, 2012 Groupon revised the fourth-quarter results it had already announced: revenue down $14.3M and net income down $22.6M, because refunds on higher-priced deals were running above its reserve. Its auditor’s work led to “a statement of a material weakness in its internal controls.”3

On February 28, 2013 the board replaced Mason.4 His letter to staff began: “I’ve decided that I’d like to spend more time with my family. Just kidding – I was fired today.”24

Chapter 5 of 6

1-for-20

reverse stock split, effective June 10, 2020

Twenty shares become one. Original illustration.

2014 – 2020 · The retreat

From 47 countries to 15, and out of first-party Goods

Active customers peaked at 53.9M at the end of 2014, when Groupon had 11,843 employees in 47 countries.5 Then it pulled back. It sold control of its Korean business in 2015, ceased operations in 13 countries that year, and by 2017 had cut its footprint “from 47 countries to the 15 core countries.”68 In October 2016 it took over its largest rival, LivingSocial, for a price it described as “not material.”7

By 2019 half of revenue came from Goods, merchandise that Groupon sold itself at thin margins.30 In February 2020 it said it would exit the category.9 The pandemic arrived a month later. In April the company said it would terminate or furlough about 2,800 employees.10 In June, with stockholder approval, it combined every 20 shares into one.11 Revenue fell from $2.22B in 2019 to $1.42B in 2020.20

Chapter 6 of 6

$498.4M

revenue in 2025, up 1% on 2024 and 84% below the 2014 peak (derived)

Groupon home page in January 2022 with a search bar, category tiles and a sign-up prompt
groupon.com as archived on Jan 1, 2022: a searchable marketplace with categories, not one deal a day.29

2022 – 2026 · The remnant

Going-concern doubt, a new owner in charge, and a small recovery

Groupon’s annual report for 2022 carried a risk factor headed: “Our financial statements contain a statement regarding a substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern.”13 In March 2023 the board named Dusan Senkypl interim chief executive. He came from Pale Fire Capital, an investment firm that was then Groupon’s largest shareholder with nearly 22% of the stock.15 An $80.0M rights offering, backstopped by Pale Fire, closed in January 2024, and management concluded that the doubt no longer applied.16

The company that remains is a marketplace for local services in 13 countries. In 2025 it reported $498.4M of revenue, 16.2M active customers and 1,734 employees.17 Its chief executive called the year a return “to growth in both billings and revenue for the first time in a decade.”18 In the first half of 2026 revenue was $241.9M, slightly below the same period of 2025, and in May the board approved a plan to cut up to 400 more positions.19

Timeline

Nineteen years, 31 moments

From a site for group action to a marketplace a fraction of its former size. The last entries are from the most recent filings. Filter by thread.

All 31 events as a list
  1. Nov 20072007
    Product & marketing

    The Point launches

    A website for organising group action that only takes effect once a “tipping point” of people agree to take part.1

  2. Jan 152008
    Corporate

    Incorporated as ThePoint.com, Inc.

    The Delaware corporation that later becomes Groupon, Inc.5

  3. Oct 2008
    Product & marketing

    Groupon starts as a side project

    The first deals are sold in Chicago from groupon.thepoint.com. Revenue for 2008 is $5,000.129

  4. Jan 20092009
    Corporate

    The company turns fully to Groupon

    “By January 2009, its popularity soaring, we had fully shifted our attention to Groupon,” Mason later wrote. Revenue for 2009 is $14.5M.1

  5. Dec 32010
    Money

    Google’s offer is turned down

    Fortune reports that the board rejected offers of around $6 billion. Revenue for 2010 is $312.9M, with a net loss of $389.6M.211

  6. Feb 62011
    Product & marketing

    The Super Bowl ads

    Three spots parody charity appeals for Tibet, the rainforest and whales. By February 11 the company has apologised and pulled them.22

  7. Aug 26
    Rivals

    Facebook ends its deals test

    “After testing Deals for four months, we’ve decided to end our Deals product,” a spokesperson says.27

  8. Sep 30
    Corporate

    142.9M subscribers, 10,418 employees

    The prospectus counts 142,865,836 subscribers, 29.5M cumulative customers and operations in 45 countries.1

  9. Nov 4
    Money

    IPO at $20

    35 million shares raise $700M. The stock closes at $26.11, valuing the company at $16.7 billion.123

  10. Dec 31
    Corporate

    11,471 employees at year-end

    8,782 of them work outside North America. Active customers are 33.7M, up from 8.9M a year earlier.2

  11. Mar 302012
    Money

    Fourth-quarter results revised

    Revenue is cut by $14.3M and net income by $22.6M for higher refunds. The annual report discloses a material weakness in internal controls.32

  12. Feb 282013
    Corporate

    Andrew Mason is replaced

    Eric Lefkofsky and Ted Leonsis take over in an interim Office of the Chief Executive. Mason’s letter to staff says he was fired.424

  13. Mar 52014
    Rivals

    Google shuts its self-serve offers product

    A local search analyst reports that Google is closing the Offers tool in its Places dashboard.28

  14. Dec 31
    Corporate

    The peak: 53.9M active customers

    Groupon has 11,843 employees and sells in 47 countries. Gross billings for the year are $7.6 billion as first reported.5

  15. May 272015
    Retreat

    Control of Ticket Monster sold

    Groupon sells a controlling stake in its Korean subsidiary and books a $202.2M pre-tax gain.6

  16. Sep 2015
    Retreat

    International restructuring

    The board approves workforce cuts abroad. During 2015 the company ceases operations in 13 countries (derived: six plus seven).6

  17. Dec 18
    Rivals

    Amazon Local closes

    Amazon stops selling daily deals. “We’ve learned a great deal from the daily deals business,” a spokesperson says.26

  18. Oct 262016
    Rivals

    Groupon takes over LivingSocial

    The price is “not material.” Groupon also says it will operate in 15 countries, down from 27.725

  19. Dec 312017
    Corporate

    A second, lower peak

    Active customers reach 49.5M with LivingSocial included. Employees: 6,672 (derived sum of two segments).8

  20. Feb 20202020
    Retreat

    Exit from Goods announced

    Groupon says it will “exit the Goods category by the end of 2020.” Goods had been half of 2019 revenue.930

  21. Apr 13
    Retreat

    About 2,800 jobs cut or furloughed

    A multi-phase restructuring in response to the pandemic. Goods will continue only “as a third-party marketplace partner.”10

  22. Jun 10
    Money

    1-for-20 reverse stock split

    Every 20 shares are combined into one after stockholders approve the plan on June 9.11

  23. Dec 31
    Retreat

    A year of contraction

    Revenue falls to $1.42B from $2.22B. Active customers fall to 29.6M from 43.6M. Employees: 4,159.1220

  24. Aug 20222022
    Retreat

    Another restructuring plan

    The plan is expected to remove about 1,000 positions in two phases. The year ends with 2,904 employees.1314

  25. Mar 162023
    Money

    Going-concern language

    The annual report says conditions “raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern.”13

  26. Mar 2023
    Corporate

    Pale Fire’s co-founder becomes CEO

    Dusan Senkypl replaces Kedar Deshpande on an interim basis. Pale Fire Capital holds nearly 22% of the shares.15

  27. Jan 222024
    Money

    $80.0M rights offering closes

    7,079,646 shares are sold at $11.30. Management concludes that substantial doubt no longer exists.16

  28. May 2024
    Corporate

    Senkypl made permanent CEO

    He had been interim chief executive since March 2023.17

  29. Mar 102026
    Money

    2025 results: a small increase

    Revenue of $498.4M, up 1%. Gross billings of $1.67B, up 7%. A net loss attributable to Groupon of $83.5M.1718

  30. May 2026
    Retreat

    Up to 400 more positions to go

    The board approves a restructuring plan tied to rebuilding Groupon “as an AI-native company.”19

  31. Aug 6
    Money

    Latest filing

    First-half revenue is $241.9M. Active customers are 16.1M. Cash is $226.3M and total equity is negative $72.1M.19

Part 2 of 6

Business

The numbers · Rivals

The money

What shrank, and by how much

Groupon is still filing annual reports, so the record is complete. Revenue overstates the fall, because until 2020 it included the full price of merchandise the company sold itself. Gross profit, customers and headcount tell the same story with less distortion.

Revenue, 2009 to 2025

$ millions, as most recently reported for each year. Six turning points.

$0.0M$1000.0M$2000.0M$3000.0M$4000.0M200920112013201520172019202120232025123456$0.0M$2000.0M$4000.0M20092013201720212025123456
  1. 2010 · Google is turned down Revenue grows from $14.5M to $312.9M in a year. The board rejects a reported offer of about $6 billion.21
  2. 2011 · The IPO 35 million shares at $20 on November 4, 2011.1
  3. 2014 · The peak $3.04B on the recast basis shown here, $3.19B as first reported. Active customers reach 53.9M.5
  4. 2020 · Goods exit, pandemic, reverse split Revenue falls 36% in 2020 (derived). Every 20 shares become one.1112
  5. 2023 · Going-concern doubt Raised in the 2022 annual report and lifted after an $80.0M rights offering.1316
  6. 2025 · A small increase $498.4M in 2025, up 1% on 2024.18
Data table
Revenue, 2009 to 2025
Fiscal yearRevenue
2009$14.5M
2010$312.9M
2011$1610.4M
2012$2334.5M
2013$2573.7M
2014$3042.1M
2015$2954.8M
2016$3013.6M
2017$2843.9M
2018$2636.7M
2019$2218.9M
2020$1416.9M
2021$967.1M
2022$599.1M
2023$514.9M
2024$492.6M
2025$498.4M
2009 and 2010 from the IPO prospectus1. 2011 to 2025 from the company’s XBRL financial data on EDGAR, taking the most recently filed value for each year20. 2014 to 2016 were recast in later filings for businesses moved to discontinued operations: 2014 was first reported as $3,191.7M5 and 2015 as $3,119.5M6. From 2021 most Goods sales are counted net, as commissions, which lowers revenue without lowering profit.12

Gross profit

$ millions. What Groupon keeps after merchants, merchandise and shipping are paid. Down 72% from 2012 to 2025 (derived).

Data table
Gross profit
PeriodGross profit ($M)
2010$270M
2011$1351.6M
2012$1615.5M
2013$1501.5M
2014$1465.3M
2015$1287.8M
2016$1280.7M
2017$1333.9M
2018$1320.6M
2019$1186.1M
2020$677.3M
2021$737.1M
2022$522.8M
2023$450.7M
2024$444.3M
2025$452.5M
XBRL financial data on EDGAR, most recently filed value for each year20. 2025 also in the annual report17. Derived: 1 − 452.5 ÷ 1,615.5 = 72%.

Active customers

Millions, at December 31. Customers who bought in the previous twelve months.

Data table
Active customers
PeriodActive customers (millions)
20108.9
201133.7
2012n/a
201343.7
201453.9
201548.9
201647.9
201749.5
201848.2
201943.6
202029.6
202123.3
202218.8
202316.5
202415.4
202516.2
Annual reports: 2010 and 20112, 2013 and 20145, 20156, 2016 and 20178, 2018 to 202012, 2021 and 202213, 202316, 2024 and 202517. We did not collect 2012. The definition changed over time and the footprint fell from 47 countries to 13, so the years are not strictly comparable.

Employees

At December 31 of the years we checked.

Data table
Employees
PeriodEmployees
201111,471
201411,843
20159,872
20176,672
20196,345
20204,159
20222,904
20232,213
20251,734
Annual reports for 20112, 20145, 20156, 20178, 20199, 202012, 202213, 202316 and 202517. Totals for 2011, 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2019 are derived sums of the segment counts in each report.

Where 2019 revenue came from

The last full year before the exit from Goods. Half of revenue was merchandise.

$2218.9M revenue in 2019
$1118.2M 50%Goods$1008.6M 45%Local$92.0M 4%Travel$1118.2M 50%Goods$1008.6M 45%Local$92.0M 4%Travel
  • Goods. Merchandise sold mostly by Groupon itself, counted at full price. Gross profit on it was $195.9M.
  • Local. Vouchers for restaurants, spas and activities, counted net of the merchant’s share. Gross profit was $913.2M.
  • Travel. Hotel and tour deals. Gross profit was $77.1M.
Data table
Where 2019 revenue came from
Where it wentAmountShareNote
Goods$1118.2M50%Merchandise sold mostly by Groupon itself, counted at full price. Gross profit on it was $195.9M.
Local$1008.6M45%Vouchers for restaurants, spas and activities, counted net of the merchant’s share. Gross profit was $913.2M.
Travel$92.0M4%Hotel and tour deals. Gross profit was $77.1M.
Quarterly figures in Groupon’s fourth-quarter 2019 earnings tables30, summed by us (derived). Total as in the annual report9. Rounded parts sum to $2,218.8M.

Where 2019 gross profit came from

The same year, measured by what Groupon kept.

  1. 77%Local$913.2M
  2. 16.5%Goods$195.9M
  3. 6.5%Travel$77.1M
Data table
Where 2019 gross profit came from
CategoryShare of gross profit
Local77%
Goods16.5%
Travel6.5%
Derived from the quarterly category figures in the fourth-quarter 2019 earnings tables30, as shares of $1,186.1M.

Market value held by outside shareholders

$ billions at June 30 of each year, from the cover of each annual report. This excludes shares held by insiders and affiliates, so it is lower than total market value.

Data table
Market value held by outside shareholders
PeriodNon-affiliate market value ($B)
2012$3.70B
2013$3.97B
2014$3.34B
2015$2.42B
2016$1.31B
2017$1.60B
2018$2.03B
2019$1.63B
2020$0.52B
2021$1.07B
2022$0.22B
2023$0.13B
2024$0.38B
2025$0.62B
Aggregate market value of common stock held by non-affiliates, as tagged on each Form 10-K cover20; 2025 also read from the annual report: $617,884,386 at June 30, 202517. We did not find a sourced daily price series, so no share price chart is shown.

One share today is twenty shares from the IPO

The 2020 reverse split means the $20 IPO price equals $400 for one of today’s shares.

1share of GRPN after June 10, 2020
=
20 ×share as sold in the 2011 IPO (1)

Derived 1-for-20 reverse split11. $20.00 IPO price1 × 20 = $400 per current share. Ignores fractional-share cash payments.

Data table
One share today is twenty shares from the IPO
Value
share of GRPN after June 10, 20201
share as sold in the 2011 IPO1
Ratio20 (derived)
Reverse split press release, June 10, 202011, and IPO prospectus1.

As of the latest filing: Form 10-Q for June 30, 2026, filed August 6, 2026

$241.9M
revenue in the first six months of 2026, against $242.9M a year earlier19
16.1M
active customers in the twelve months to June 30, 202619
$226.3M
cash and equivalents, down from $296.1M at December 31, 202519
−$72.1M
total equity: liabilities exceed assets19
40.7M
shares outstanding on August 4, 2026 (40,665,296)19
up to 400
positions to be cut under the restructuring plan approved in May 202619
Groupon, Inc. Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 202619. No going-concern statement appears in that filing or in the 2025 annual report.17

The rivals

Everyone copied it, and nearly everyone left

Groupon’s prospectus warned that competitors “offer substantially the same or similar product offerings.” Three of the largest technology companies tried daily deals and gave up. The one large independent rival ended up inside Groupon.

Five daily-deal businesses, one still selling

What each one was, and what became of it.

Groupon

Shrunken
2010: $312.9M2025
$498.4M 2025 revenue, against $3.19B first reported for 2014.517

LivingSocial

Acquired
$928M raised Venture funding, including from Amazon, as reported by TechCrunch.25 Taken over by Groupon in 2016 for a price that was “not material.”7

Amazon Local

Dead
Closed 2015 Amazon stopped selling daily deals on December 18, 2015.26

Google Offers (self-serve)

Dead
Closed 2014 Google ran its own offers product after the Groupon talks ended. The self-serve version was shut down in March 2014.2128

Facebook Deals

Dead
4 months Launched in five cities in late April 2011 and ended that August.27
Data table
Five daily-deal businesses, one still selling
CompanyOutcomeOutcomeNotesSeries
GrouponShrunken$498.4M2025 revenue, against $3.19B first reported for 2014.312.9, 1610.4, 2573.7, 3042.1, 2843.9, 2218.9, 967.1, 514.9, 498.4
LivingSocialAcquired$928M raisedVenture funding, including from Amazon, as reported by TechCrunch. Taken over by Groupon in 2016 for a price that was “not material.”
Amazon LocalDeadClosed 2015Amazon stopped selling daily deals on December 18, 2015.
Google Offers (self-serve)DeadClosed 2014Google ran its own offers product after the Groupon talks ended. The self-serve version was shut down in March 2014.
Facebook DealsDead4 monthsLaunched in five cities in late April 2011 and ended that August.
Groupon revenue from EDGAR20; rivals from contemporary press as cited. LivingSocial’s purchase price was not disclosed.

This is a whimper of an ending for LivingSocial, which once competed hard against Groupon for both merchants to list deals for their goods and services, and consumers to buy those offers.

TechCrunch, Oct 26, 201625

Why the copies mattered

A daily deal needed a sales team, an email list and a merchant willing to discount. None of that could be protected. The prospectus named Google, Microsoft, Eversave, BuyWithMe and LivingSocial as competitors and said that others “offer substantially the same or similar product offerings.”1 When the large platforms left, it was not because Groupon had beaten them. Amazon’s statement on closing Amazon Local was: “We’ve learned a great deal from the daily deals business.”26

Part 3 of 6

Brand

Commercials & footage · Old website · Brand gallery

Commercials & footage

The founder, the ads and the look back

Groupon advertised mostly by email, so there is less film than for a television-era brand. These are the Super Bowl spot that had to be pulled, a news report on the reaction, the founder explaining the model at its peak, a newspaper asking whether the valuation made sense, a later Super Bowl ad and one retrospective.

Commercial · 2011“Save the Money: Tibet,” the Super Bowl XLV spot Uploaded on February 6, 2011, the day of the game. It opens as an appeal for Tibet and turns into a pitch for a restaurant discount. Groupon apologised and pulled the campaign within the week.22 Watch on YouTube
News segment · 2011Radio Free Asia: “Super Bowl Stirs Tibet Backlash” A two-minute news report uploaded on February 7, 2011, the day after the broadcast, on the criticism of the ad. Watch on YouTube
Interview · 2010Andrew Mason at DEMO Fall 2010 VentureBeat’s interview with the founder, uploaded September 15, 2010, three months before the reported Google offer.21 He describes how Groupon grew out of The Point. Watch on YouTube
News segment · 2011The New York Times DealBook: “In Groupon I.P.O., Echo of Tech Bubble?” Uploaded January 18, 2011. A reporter and an analyst discuss whether Groupon is worth an expected $15 billion, ten months before it listed at a first-day value of $16.7 billion.23 Watch on YouTube
Commercial · 2018“Who Wouldn’t,” the 2018 Super Bowl spot with Tiffany Haddish Groupon’s return to the Super Bowl, seven years after the Tibet ad. This copy was uploaded by a viewer on February 19, 2018; the airing year is from the uploader’s title. Watch on YouTube
Retrospective · 2023Company Man: “The Decline of Groupon...What Happened?” A thirteen-minute independent retrospective. YouTube lists it as about three years old; we could not read the exact upload date, so the year is approximate. Its figures are the uploader’s; ours are in the sections above. Watch on YouTube

Videos are embedded from the services that host them and load only when you press play. YouTube embeds use youtube-nocookie.com. Each video belongs to its uploader or rights holder and is shown here for commentary; we do not host any of the files. Upload dates were read from each video’s YouTube page on October 3, 2026.

The old website

From one deal a day to a searchable marketplace

Screenshots of pages saved by the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine, stored as images. Click one to open the original capture. The two earliest captures did not save their stylesheets and appear as plain text.29

Screenshot of http://groupon.thepoint.com/ as archived Nov 5, 2008

Captured Nov 5, 2008

The Daily Groupon

A month after the first deal, on a subdomain of The Point: tickets to the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra at Chicago’s Harris Theater, “$74 Off!”

The capture has no stylesheet, so the page is shown unstyled.

Open this capture on the Wayback Machine

Text preserved in the archived pages

“Each day we feature something cool to do in Chicago at a huge discount. You only get the discount if enough people join that day - so invite your friends!”
groupon.thepoint.com · Nov 5, 200829
Total dollars saved $15,489,770 · Total Groupons bought 295,243
groupon.com counter · Sep 1, 200929
Total dollars saved $963,956,253 · Total Groupons bought 22,254,152
groupon.com counter · Jan 7, 201129
“The Point is a platform for group action, helping you make things happen that you couldn’t accomplish alone.”
thepoint.com · Jul 5, 200829

Also worth opening: The Point in July 2008, whose featured campaign proposed raising $10,000,000,000 to build a dome over Chicago. A capture of groupon.com from May 2009 returned an unrelated parked page and was not used.

Part 4 of 6

People

People · Press

The people

Who ran it

Roles and dates are from the company’s filings and press releases. Later careers are left out where we did not check a source.

People (6)
Name and roleWhat they didAfterwards
Portrait of Andrew MasonAndrew MasonCo-founder; chief executive to Feb 28, 2013

Started The Point in 2007 and Groupon as “a side project” in October 2008.1 Took responsibility for the 2011 Super Bowl ads.22 Told staff on his last day: “As CEO, I am accountable.”24

Eric LefkofskyCo-founder and chairman; interim co-chief executive from Feb 2013

Mason’s former employer, who “asked me to leave graduate school so we could start a business.”1 Joined the interim Office of the Chief Executive when Mason was removed.4

Ted LeonsisVice chairman, later chairman

Shared the interim Office of the Chief Executive in 2013.4 As chairman in March 2023 he announced the appointment of Dusan Senkypl.15

Rich WilliamsChief executive in 2016

Led the company when it took over LivingSocial and cut its footprint from 27 countries to 15.257

Kedar DeshpandeChief executive until March 2023

Stepped down as chief executive and director when the board appointed Senkypl, and stayed as an adviser for 60 days.15

Dusan SenkyplInterim chief executive from Mar 2023; chief executive from May 2024

Co-founder of Pale Fire Capital, which held nearly 22% of Groupon when he was appointed. A director since June 2022.1517

Portraits. Andrew Mason: Photo: Aaron Fulkerson, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0. Resized.

The clippings

What they said at the time

Press (9)
After four and a half intense and wonderful years as CEO of Groupon, I’ve decided that I’d like to spend more time with my family. Just kidding – I was fired today.
Andrew Mason, letter to employees, Feb 28, 2013, as published by The Next Web24
Our financial statements contain a statement regarding a substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern.
Groupon, Inc., risk factor heading, annual report for 2022, filed Mar 16, 202313

  1. Andrew Mason, letter to prospective stockholders in the IPO prospectus, Nov 20111

    I started Groupon to get Eric to stop bugging me to find a business model.

  2. Fortune, Dec 4, 201021

    Groupon’s board turned down offers of around $6 billion from Google.

  3. Andrew Mason, on the Super Bowl ads, quoted by NPR, Feb 11, 201122

    We hate that we offended people, and we’re very sorry that we did — it’s the last thing we wanted.

  4. Andrew Mason, Feb 28, 201324

    My biggest regrets are the moments that I let a lack of data override my intuition on what’s best for our customers.

  5. Facebook spokesperson, Aug 26, 201127

    After testing Deals for four months, we’ve decided to end our Deals product in the coming weeks.

  6. Amazon spokesperson, on closing Amazon Local, Oct 30, 201526

    We’ve learned a great deal from the daily deals business and will look for ways to apply these lessons in the future

  7. Dusan Senkypl, chief executive, Mar 10, 202618

    Our 2025 results represent a landmark achievement in Groupon’s multi-year transformation, as we returned to growth in both billings and revenue for the first time in a decade

Part 5 of 6

Verdict

Cause of decline · What if · Where it is now

Cause of decline

The autopsy of a company that is still alive

Groupon has not died, so this is a diagnosis of why it shrank. Tap a cause to see the evidence. The percentages are our editorial weighting. The evidence under each one is sourced.

Cause of death, by editorial weight

One square is one percentage point. The weights are our judgment, not a measurement.

  1. 30%The daily deal was a novelty, and the customers stopped coming
  2. 20%Nothing stopped anyone copying it
  3. 20%Growth was rebuilt on low-margin merchandise
  4. 15%Too many countries, too fast
  5. 15%Controls and leadership
Data table
Cause of death, by editorial weight
CauseWeight
The daily deal was a novelty, and the customers stopped coming30%
Nothing stopped anyone copying it20%
Growth was rebuilt on low-margin merchandise20%
Too many countries, too fast15%
Controls and leadership15%

Active customers rose from 8.9M at the end of 2010 to 53.9M at the end of 2014, then fell to 16.2M by the end of 2025. Units sold fell from 172.3M in 2018 to 36.8M in 2025.251217 The format the company was built on, one deal emailed to a city each day, had been replaced by a searchable marketplace by the time the decline set in.29

The prospectus said competitors “offer substantially the same or similar product offerings.”1 Facebook, Google and Amazon all entered and all left, which says as much about the category as about Groupon.262728 LivingSocial raised $928M and was handed over for an immaterial price.257

By 2019 Goods supplied 50% of revenue and 17% of gross profit (derived).30 It made the top line look larger than the business was. When Groupon announced its exit in February 2020, revenue fell from $2.22B to $967.1M in two years.920

Groupon was in 45 countries three years after its first deal and 47 by 2014, with 8,782 of its 11,471 employees outside North America at the end of 2011.125 It then spent 2015 to 2017 leaving 32 of them (derived).8

The first annual report disclosed a material weakness in internal controls and a revision of results already announced.3 The founder was removed sixteen months after the IPO.4 By 2023 the financial statements carried going-concern doubt, and the largest shareholder’s co-founder took over as chief executive.1315

Editorial judgment: the weights are an interpretive model by the Spectre Brands editors, not a measured quantity. Groupon is an operating company and its management disputes none of the figures here, which come from its own filings. How much each factor contributed is a matter of opinion.

The fork in the road

What if…

Three decisions where the story could have gone differently. The “What if” panels are speculation, labeled as such.

What happened

In December 2010 the board turned down offers from Google that Fortune put at around $6 billion.21 Eleven months later the IPO valued the company at $16.7 billion at the first day’s close.23 The market value held by outside shareholders was $3.70B in mid-2012, $519.7M in mid-2020 and $617.9M in mid-2025.20

What if speculative

At no mid-year reading from 2012 to 2025 did the shares held by outside investors reach $6 billion in value, although that measure leaves out insiders’ shares.20 It would also have put the product inside a company that later shut its own offers tool.28 The name would probably be gone. Whether the employees and merchants would have been better off is not something the numbers can answer.

What happened

Groupon added Goods, selling merchandise itself and booking the full price as revenue. By 2019 the category was half of revenue and about a sixth of gross profit (derived).30 It announced the exit in February 2020.9

What if speculative

Without Goods, reported revenue in 2019 would have been about $1.1B rather than $2.2B, and gross profit about $990M rather than $1.19B (derived from the same tables).30 A smaller, higher-margin company might have been valued more soberly and spared one restructuring. It would not have fixed the fall in Local customers, which continued after Goods was gone.17

What happened

The company expanded to 45 countries by the IPO, largely by buying or building local copies of itself, and to 47 by 2014.15 From 2015 to 2017 it withdrew to 15.8 It now sells in 13.17

What if speculative

A slower expansion would have meant a smaller IPO and less of the 2015–2017 restructuring. In 2017 the International segment produced only 30.5% of gross profit.8 The risk on the other side was real: local clones were appearing in every market, and the prospectus treated speed as the defence.1

Where is it now

The afterlife, while still alive

Nothing here was liquidated. These are the pieces of the 2011 company and what each has become, as of the filing of August 6, 2026.

Groupon

  1. The company

    Operating

    Groupon, Inc. remains listed on the Nasdaq as GRPN, with headquarters in Chicago and sites in 13 countries. It had 1,734 employees at the end of 2025.17

  2. The shares

    Consolidated

    Every 20 shares became one in June 2020.11 40.7M shares were outstanding in August 2026.19 The IPO price of $20 corresponds to $400 for one of them (derived).

  3. The boardroom

    Under new control

    Pale Fire Capital held nearly 22% in March 2023 and backstopped the $80.0M rights offering that closed in January 2024. Its co-founder has been chief executive since.151617

  4. The founder

    Removed

    Andrew Mason was replaced on February 28, 2013.4 His letter said: “I’m OK with having failed at this part of the journey.”24

  5. The rival

    Absorbed

    LivingSocial was acquired on terms Groupon called “not material” in October 2016. It added incremental gross billings of about $100M in 2017 (derived sum of three categories).78

  6. The workforce

    Shrinking still

    From 11,843 at the end of 2014 to 1,734 at the end of 2025.517 A plan approved in May 2026 covers up to 400 more positions, including contractors.19

  7. The idea

    Altered

    The daily email with one deal and a tipping point is gone. What remains is a marketplace for discounted local services, which the company describes as “a global scaled two-sided marketplace.”17

Who has held the name

The name has never been sold. Control of the company that owns it has changed.

  1. Jan 2008

    ThePoint.com, Inc.

    Incorporated in Delaware to run The Point. Groupon begins as a side project that October.51

  2. 2009 – 2011

    Groupon, Inc. (private)

    Venture-backed and founder-led. Turns down Google’s reported offer in December 2010.21

    ~$6B offered (reported)
  3. Nov 2011

    Public shareholders

    IPO on the Nasdaq at $20 a share.123

    $16.7B at first close
  4. Jun 2020

    Public shareholders

    1-for-20 reverse stock split.11

  5. Mar 2023

    Pale Fire Capital as largest holder

    Holds nearly 22%. Its co-founder becomes chief executive, and it backstops the rights offering.1516

    $80.0M rights offering
  6. Aug 2026

    Groupon, Inc.

    Still operating and still listed. First-half 2026 revenue of $241.9M.19

Data table
Who has held the name
WhenOwnerWhat happenedPrice
Jan 2008ThePoint.com, Inc.Incorporated in Delaware to run The Point. Groupon begins as a side project that October.
2009 – 2011Groupon, Inc. (private)Venture-backed and founder-led. Turns down Google’s reported offer in December 2010.~$6B offered (reported)
Nov 2011Public shareholdersIPO on the Nasdaq at $20 a share.$16.7B at first close
Jun 2020Public shareholders1-for-20 reverse stock split.
Mar 2023Pale Fire Capital as largest holderHolds nearly 22%. Its co-founder becomes chief executive, and it backstops the rights offering.$80.0M rights offering
Aug 2026Groupon, Inc.Still operating and still listed. First-half 2026 revenue of $241.9M.
Company filings and press releases as cited. Ownership percentages after March 2023 were not checked.

Sources & data notes

Show your work

Primary sources first. SEC filings link to the original documents on EDGAR (CIK 1490281). Figures are current to the Form 10-Q filed on August 6, 2026.

  1. Groupon, Inc. — Final Prospectus (424B4), Nov 4, 2011 (filed Nov 7, 2011), including Andrew Mason’s letter to prospective stockholders.
  2. Groupon, Inc. — Form 10-K, FY2011, filed Mar 30, 2012.
  3. Groupon, Inc. — Form 8-K/A, Ex. 99.1: revision of fourth-quarter 2011 results, Mar 30, 2012.
  4. Groupon, Inc. — Form 8-K, Ex. 99.1: “Groupon Announces Leadership Change”, Feb 28, 2013.
  5. Groupon, Inc. — Form 10-K, FY2014, filed Feb 13, 2015.
  6. Groupon, Inc. — Form 10-K, FY2015, filed Feb 12, 2016.
  7. Groupon, Inc. — Form 8-K, Ex. 99.1: third-quarter 2016 results and LivingSocial acquisition, Oct 26, 2016.
  8. Groupon, Inc. — Form 10-K, FY2017, filed Feb 14, 2018.
  9. Groupon, Inc. — Form 10-K, FY2019, filed Feb 18, 2020.
  10. Groupon, Inc. — Form 8-K: restructuring actions, Apr 13, 2020.
  11. Groupon, Inc. — Form 8-K, Ex. 99.1: “Groupon Announces 1-for-20 Reverse Stock Split”, Jun 10, 2020.
  12. Groupon, Inc. — Form 10-K, FY2020, filed Feb 25, 2021.
  13. Groupon, Inc. — Form 10-K, FY2022, filed Mar 16, 2023.
  14. Groupon, Inc. — Form 10-Q, Q1 2023, filed May 10, 2023.
  15. Groupon, Inc. — Form 8-K, Ex. 99.1: “Groupon Announces CEO Transition”, March 2023.
  16. Groupon, Inc. — Form 10-K, FY2023, filed Mar 15, 2024.
  17. Groupon, Inc. — Form 10-K, FY2025, filed Mar 10, 2026.
  18. Groupon, Inc. — “Groupon Reports Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2025 Results” (PDF), Mar 10, 2026.
  19. Groupon, Inc. — Form 10-Q, Q2 2026, filed Aug 6, 2026. The latest periodic filing when this page was written.
  20. SEC EDGAR — XBRL company-concept data for Groupon, Inc. (CIK 1490281): Revenues, revenue from contracts with customers, gross profit, net income and public float, read Oct 3, 2026.
  21. Fortune — Seth Weintraub, “Google’s Groupon deal is off”, Dec 4, 2010.
  22. NPR — Mark Memmott, “Groupon Gives In: Pulls Controversial Super Bowl Ads”, Feb 11, 2011 (text read from the KUNC copy).
  23. Reuters via NBC News — Clare Baldwin and Alistair Barr, “Groupon shares surge but concerns linger”, Nov 4, 2011.
  24. The Next Web — Alex Wilhelm, “Andrew Mason is out as CEO of Groupon, here’s his sendoff letter”, Feb 28, 2013.
  25. TechCrunch — Ingrid Lunden, “Groupon is buying LivingSocial, plans to downsize business to 15 markets from 27”, Oct 26, 2016.
  26. TechCrunch — Sarah Perez, “Amazon To Exit Daily Deals With Closure Of Amazon Local”, Oct 30, 2015.
  27. The Next Web — Matthew Panzarino, “Facebook shutting down Facebook Deals service after 4 months”, Aug 26, 2011.
  28. Mike Blumenthal — “Google Shuts Down Self Serve Offers Product”, Mar 5, 2014 (specialist blog on local search).
  29. Internet Archive Wayback Machine — captures of groupon.com, groupon.thepoint.com and thepoint.com, 2008 – 2022 (individual capture links in the Old website section).
  30. Groupon, Inc. — fourth-quarter 2019 earnings release tables (PDF), Feb 2020.
  31. Wikimedia Commons — Andrew Mason (cropped).jpg, Aaron Fulkerson, CC BY-SA 2.0; Groupon Float (14537747014).jpg, nathanmac87, CC BY 2.0.
Data notes (9)

Data notes

Editorial: Groupon is an operating, publicly listed company and is not defunct. It is filed as a ghost because the business that made the name, the daily deal sold by email in dozens of countries, no longer exists at anything like its former scale. We set the end of that original business at 2020: the year Groupon announced its exit from Goods (half of 2019 revenue), cut or furloughed about 2,800 employees, carried out the 1-for-20 reverse split, and saw revenue fall 36% and active customers fall 32%. Other defensible choices are 2013 (the founder’s removal) and 2015 (the start of the country exits). The tag will be reviewed if the company’s recovery continues.

Derived values: −84% revenue (1 − 498.4 ÷ 3,191.7); −72% gross profit (1 − 452.5 ÷ 1,615.5); −36% revenue in 2020 (1 − 1,416.9 ÷ 2,218.9); −32% active customers in 2020 (1 − 29.6 ÷ 43.6); employee totals for 2011, 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2019 (sums of segment counts); 13 countries exited in 2015 (6 + 7); 32 countries left from 2015 to 2017 (47 − 15); 2019 category revenue and gross profit (sums of four quarters) and their shares; revenue and gross profit without Goods in 2019; LivingSocial’s incremental 2017 billings ($75.7M + $12.8M + $11.7M); $400 split-adjusted IPO price ($20 × 20); the five days between the Super Bowl and the ads being pulled; the count of loss-making years, using net income attributable to Groupon for 2011 to 2025; “about a seventh of the staff” (1,734 ÷ 11,843).

Restated figures: Groupon recast earlier years when it moved businesses to discontinued operations. Revenue for 2014 was first reported as $3,191.7M and later as $3,042.1M; 2015 was first reported as $3,119.5M and later as $2,954.8M. The revenue chart uses the most recently filed value for each year, and headline comparisons with the peak use the first-reported 2014 figure, as stated. From 2021 most Goods sales are counted net, so revenue before and after 2020 is not like for like. Gross profit is the better comparison.

Reported, not confirmed: Google’s offer of about $6 billion comes from press reports (Fortune, citing other outlets) and was never confirmed in a filing; we did not find the talks described in the prospectus. The $16.7 billion first-day valuation and the $26.11 close are Reuters’ figures. LivingSocial’s $928M of venture funding is TechCrunch’s figure.

Not found: What Groupon paid for LivingSocial (undisclosed), the cost of the 2011 Super Bowl airtime, a sourced daily share-price series, active customers at the end of 2012, and employee counts for the years not shown. The later careers of former executives were not researched. The event at which the 2014 parade float was photographed is not named in the photograph’s description.

Active customers: The company’s definition changed over the years (for example, acquired customers were added and coupon-only users excluded), and the country footprint fell from 47 to 13. 53.9M at the end of 2014 is the highest year-end figure in the annual reports we read (2011, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2020, 2022, 2023 and 2025).

Videos: Years are upload dates read from YouTube, except the Company Man retrospective, whose exact date we could not read (approximate). The 2018 commercial’s airing year comes from the uploader.

General knowledge: Super Bowl XLV was played on February 6, 2011. The Nasdaq ticker GRPN.

Archive: The 2008 and 2009 Wayback captures were saved without stylesheets and are shown unstyled. Captures were cropped to the top of the page.

More post-mortems

Pets.com

1998 – 2000

Dead
Unit economics
270 days from IPO to wind-down

Webvan

1996 – 2001

Dead
Overexpansion
$827M cumulative net loss, 1998 to Mar 2001

AOL

1985 – present

Ghost
Technology shift
26.7M U.S. subscribers at the September 2002 peak; 2.2M by 2014

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