Phoenix Local News: Groupon Amends IPO Filing Again, Bing to Aggregate Deals and a Groupon Deal Gone Bad

Saturday, September 24, 2011

Groupon Amends IPO Filing Again, Bing to Aggregate Deals and a Groupon Deal Gone Bad

Can't see content of this e-mail? Click here for browser version.

Daily Deal News for September 24th, 2011

Groupon Amends IPO Filing for Third Time

Microsoft's Bing to Aggregate Deals, Move Over Yipit?

Another Groupon Deal Gone Bad Stranding Las Vegas Passengers

Groupon COO Leaves for Google

JOYoffer Adds 25,000 Subs in its First Month

$577 Million in Unused Daily Deals Create Aftermarket

Groupon Amends IPO Filing for Third Time

It looks like Groupon has amended its IPO document once again, this time changing how it reports revenue. Gross billings or the amount collected will now be separate from net revenue or what is left once merchants are paid. Initially gross billings had been listed as gross revenue.

In its third amended filing to date, Groupon said:

“We consistently have stated that the amount we retain — rather than bill or collect — from the sale of Groupons is the key measure of the value we create. This change in presentation is consistent with that belief.”

StrongMail, provider of marketing solutions for email marketing and social media, has released a new industry report that analyzes the email marketing campaigns from a number of leading daily deal sites to provide marketers with best practices and recommendations to help them stand apart in the crowded daily deals space.

You can download a free copy of the report here.

Microsoft's Bing to Aggregate Deals – Move Over Yipit?

Initially the question was, ‘How many daily deal sites do we need?” but now it’s looking more and more like we can apply that same question to daily deal aggregators as well. Now it appears as though Microsoft wants to get into the game and in an industry that’s becoming increasingly saturated, you might have to wonder, “What are they thinking?”

Microsoft is launching a deals aggregator on their “decision engine”, Bing. Bing (formerly known as Live Search, Windows Live Search and MSN Search) will be aggregating deals from sites like Groupon, Living Social and a ton of retailers. The one thing that Microsoft may have going for it is brand recognition and an extensive user base and much like Google, when the big players want to move in and take a piece of the daily deals pie, everybody’s watching to see how the dynamics will change.

Groupon's COO Leaving After Only Five Months – Takes New Position with Google

Groupon’s chief operating officer, Margo Georgiadis, is reportedly leaving the company after only five months on the job. Georgiadis is taking a position as president of Google’s Americas business, a position being vacated by Dennis Woodside who will take on the job of overseeing the integration of Motorola Mobility, which Google plans to acquire for $12.5 billion upon regulatory approval.

Georgiadis’ departure comes ahead of Groupon’s highly publicized planned IPO that seems to have had more than its share of troubles, including coming under the scrutiny of the SEC when a memo in which Mason derides company critics was leaked to the media.