Groupon

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Groupon, Inc.

logo
legal form Incorporated
ISIN US3994731079
founding 2008
Seat Chicago , United States
management Eric Lefkofsky ( Chairman )
Aaron Cooper ( CEO )
Number of employees 2,358 (end of 2019)
sales $ 2.22 billion (2019)
Branch Internet
Website www.groupon.com
As of February 18, 2020

The Groupon, Inc. is a US company, the various sites with discount operates Offer Details. According to its own information, Groupon is active in 48 countries and has more than 52 million active users.

The company name is a suitcase word made up of Group and Coupon and indicates how the service works: Groupon offers a certain discount every day if there are enough interested parties. In this case, the company receives a commission.

The offers are valid for one city or region. When Groupon launched in November 2008, Chicago was the first market, followed by Boston , New York City and Toronto . In Germany, Groupon is active in more than 40 cities and regions (as of January 2011). The company serves over 1000 markets worldwide.

history

Andrew Mason launched the website in November 2008, has led the company since its inception as chief executive officer, and stepped down on February 28, 2013.

In Germany, Groupon took over MyCityDeal in May 2010. MyCityDeal was an investment by the Samwer brothers with Holtzbrinck Ventures .

In April 2010, Digital Sky Technologies invested $ 135 million in Groupon. In January 2011, the company completed a $ 950 million financing round. Donors included investment firms such as Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Greylock Partners and Andreessen Horowitz.

In 2010, the company was looking for a candidate who would live on Groupon coupons for a full year and promised a profit of $ 100,000. Equipped with inexhaustible coupon access, the US American Josh Stevens spent 365 days from May 10, 2010 touring areas in which Groupon had offers. "Groupawn" Stevens documented his experiences in an online blog.

In December 2010, Groupon turned down a takeover bid from Google worth around $ 6 billion. At the beginning of November 2011 the company went public with a value of around € 13 billion. In fiscal 2011/12, Groupon made a loss of $ 351 million.

Since February 2013, a large number of spam e- mails have been sent to addresses with which users registered with Groupon or CityDeal. According to Groupon, the cause, such as data theft or sale, is still pending.

After taking over the OrderUp food delivery service, Groupon launched the Groupon To Go food delivery service in the United States on July 30, 2015 .

On November 3, 2015, Groupon announced that Eric Lefkofsky was stepping down as CEO with immediate effect. The new CEO will be the previous Chief Operating Officer, Rich Williams, who has held this role since June 2015. Eric Lekofsky becomes Chairman of the Board.

criticism

The discounts offered were rated as enticing offers by a regional consumer center . In addition, Groupon was criticized by cooperation partners, especially in the USA, but also in Germany. In particular, the contract terms and commissions averaging 50 percent are often cause for criticism. In addition, VAT is charged again on the commission based on the gross price during settlement, which means that the effective commission rate is higher than suggested to the cooperation partner when the contract was concluded. Success is often doubtful for the cooperation partners. Often only a few buyers can be won as regular customers with a minimized return at the same time, which is why a jump in sales is offset by only a small increase in profit, while the promised marketing effect does not materialize.

In March 2011, Wirtschaftswoche issued a “warning about discount websites”. In March 2012, the British competition authority, the Office of Fair Trading , complained to Groupon that it had violated consumer rights through incorrect pricing, among other things . The US Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating Groupon because the company had to correct its business figures downwards several times, including the first quarterly figures after the IPO.

Der Spiegel reported critically about Groupon in August 2012.

In January 2016, Groupon withdrew from Switzerland, Austria, Portugal and Ukraine due to poor business figures.

Legal Aspects

The article Dienst / Scheibenpflug, JurPC Web-Doc, deals in detail with the civil law questions relating to voucher purchases on online voucher platforms. 147/2012, Para. 1 - 103. The article examines the legal nature of the online voucher, the content and the parties to the voucher transaction. In addition, it gives an overview of individual legal aspects of couponing with a focus on consumer law issues. The focus is in particular on the elimination of remaining amounts in the event of only partial redemption and the limitation of the period of validity of a voucher.

The Cologne District Court and the Berlin District Court have so far taken a position on the validity periods of Groupon vouchers. The effectiveness of the time limit for vouchers purchased via voucher platforms is analyzed in the article Dienst / Scheibenpflug, Consumer and Law 2013, 83. The authors assume that in the case of heavily discounted service vouchers, it may even be appropriate to set a validity period of less than three months in individual cases.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Annual Report 2019. In: https://investor.groupon.com/home/default.aspx . Groupon, accessed June 6, 2020 .
  2. ↑ Bloomberg: Groupon Is Said to Discuss IPO Valuation of Up to $ 25 Billion. Bloomberg.com, March 17, 2011, accessed March 19, 2011 .
  3. ↑ CEO leaves Groupon after share price crash. In: Wirtschaftsblatt . February 28, 2013, archived from the original on September 11, 2014 ; Retrieved November 19, 2014 .
  4. ↑ MyCityDeal gets started.
  5. ↑ Kim-Mai Cutler: Groupon Raises $ 135M from DST, signaling social buying comes of age. VentureBeat, April 19, 2010, accessed December 30, 2012 .
  6. ↑ Groupon raises nearly a billion dollars. Stern.de, January 11, 2011, archived from the original on January 14, 2011 ; Retrieved January 16, 2011 .
  7. ^ Groupon: Groupon Raises, Like, A Billion Dollars. Businesswire.com, January 10, 2011, accessed 2011 .
  8. ^ How I am living on Groupon vouchers for an entire year. Retrieved October 18, 2012 .
  9. ↑ Groupon successfully goes public. Retrieved November 12, 2011 .
  10. ^ Süddeutsche Zeitung ( Memento from September 11, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  11. ↑ Spam mails from Groupon data theft? In: Heise online . February 27, 2013, accessed November 19, 2014 .
  12. ↑ TechCrunch, July 30, 2015 - accessed July 30, 2015
  13. ↑ http://files.shareholder.com/downloads/AMDA-E2NTR/967287454x0x858628/88A54902-DCCB-46F0-BA18-8904009FE617/GRPN_News_2015_11_3_General_Releases.pdf
  14. ↑ Discount leads to black ice
  15. ↑ Wirtschaftswoche: Discount websites: Warning of discount websites. wiwo.dem, March 28, 2011, accessed April 27, 2011 .
  16. ↑ British Trade Commission pats Groupon on the finger , Heise, March 16, 2012. Retrieved March 17, 2012.
  17. ↑ http://www.ftd.de/meinung/kommentare/:schnaeppchenportal-groupon-macht-die-it-blase-nahmbar/70018122.html ( Memento from April 4, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  18. ↑ Balance sheet error at bargain portal. US Securities and Exchange Commission targets Groupon. In: Spiegel online . April 3, 2012, accessed November 19, 2014 .
  19. ↑ "Groupon? Never again! ” , Spiegel.de August 9, 2012
  20. ^ Groupon failed by itself. In: Wirtschaftsblatt.at. Archived from the original on January 29, 2016 ; accessed on January 29, 2016 .
  21. ↑ Discount portal Groupon discontinues service in Austria. In: kurier.at. Retrieved January 29, 2016 .
  22. ↑ Sebastian Dienst / Philipp Scheibenpflug, Civil law legal issues with voucher purchases on online voucher platforms (couponing), JurPC web doc. 147/2012, paras. 1 - 103.
  23. ^ AG Köln, judgment of May 4, 2012, Az .: 118 C 48/12.
  24. ^ LG Berlin, judgment of October 25, 2011, Az .: 15 O 663/10.
  25. ↑ Sebastian Dienst / Philipp Scheibenpflug, Validity periods for online vouchers at Groupon & Co., VuR 2013, 83. (PDF; 168 kB)