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back to article Coupon-spaffer Groupon starts to sniff actual profits

Groupon significantly reduced the amount of money it lost in the first quarter of this year, only ending up with a net loss of $11.7m compared to a loss of $146.5m in the same quarter of 2011. The daily deals site actually managed to make its first ever operating profit, claiming $39.6m on its coupons, but interest and taxes …

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  1. mark 63 Silver badge
    WTF?

    so company loses up to $146M per quarter since its creation and its still viable?

    wow the world of internet economics is amazing.

    If / when they do make a real profit is it gonna be declared a profit after repaying the creditors/cutomers/bank deficit or before ?

    cos if its after, its only gonna get harder , by my real world business reckoning anyway

    Out there in the mega sized interweb dot com world maybe theres some sort of money fairy

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    1. Ken Hagan Gold badge
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      Re: internet economics

      The contrast with the Real World, where whole countries are going down the pan for want of cash, couldn't be more stark. Perhaps the EU should ask Groupon to bail out Greece.

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      1. The BigYin
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        Re: internet economics

        Perhpas Greece should check Groupon for some hot EU deals?

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    2. Anonymous Coward
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      Anonymous Coward

      the profit is?

      The fact that they have lasted this long amazes me, who are the nutty professors still investing in it?

      As to the.'made less losses' only because they have creative accountants working it.

      Other than a data base what assets do they have?

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  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    One Step Beyond!

    That is one step ahead of facebook.....at least they NEARLY made a profit and have money coming in from customers. But to invest in.....I think not!

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    1. Lemons
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      Re: One Step Beyond!

      How so? Last time I heard facebook was actually profitable.

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  3. asdf
    FAIL

    a new generation.

    Wow I thought the dot com era ended a long time ago. I guess their are enough dumb young investors who have never heard of pets.com or webvan. Goldman's could sell ice to Eskimos.

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  4. Tapeador
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    A reality check here

    Now my individual experience two weeks ago is obviously anecdotal, but, mine was a shocking experience of Groupon, which made them look seriously incompetent, to me.

    Having paid for two Odeon vouchers ("cinema tickets for £6") from them, which, the offer's terms claimed, would be emailed within two working days of placing the order (see bottom*), they still hadn't arrived come the time they were needed, despite it being more than two working days.

    Additionally, I had initially been issued with a receipt for only one, despite two payments being taken from my account; I had had to write initially and confirm two were due; and after the weekend came and went and still no tickets, they didn't believe I hadn't received or used it. It finally arrived after they agreed a refund, something I am still waiting for some time later.

    *"After you click 'Submit order' and purchase your Groupon, the voucher will be redeemed instantly by Groupon Shop Limited. Since the Groupon is redeemed instantly, you will not receive the standard Groupon voucher the next day. Instead, Groupon Shop Limited will email you within 2 working days with your own voucher for admission to ODEON."

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  5. David Buckle

    Is the value of the voucher counted as revenue for Groupon I wonder?

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