The Significant Other and I sauntered out Tuesday to have dinner at a nearby restaurant. As we approached we observed two searchlights strafing the sky outside. We worried that some celebrity event might have clogged the place, leaving no room for us to eat.
But no. We had stumbled onto a Groupon Searchlight Event.
A nice young woman standing near the lights told us that, if we had come with a Groupon coupon (remember those?), we could have received an hors d'oeuvre doggy bag and a coupon for a free cup of clam chowder on our next visit to the restaurant.
Sadly, we had not checked Groupon before leaving the house. We had no coupon. We went inside anyway.
The restaurant was less than half full. It was 8:30 on a Tuesday evening, after all.
We asked the receptionist and two waiters about the Groupon Searchlight Event. None of them had heard of it.
This seems to have been Groupon's fate. If you recall, the company was a big deal for a few weeks in 2010. Its website offered discount coupons for meals, massages, picture framing and other services. I believe I read that Oprah promoted it on her television show.
Google offered to buy Groupon for $6 billion in November 2010. Groupon's founders said no.
The next year, with the company still unprofitable and controlling only 53 percent of the still-new "daily deal" marketplace, Groupon released less than 10 percent of its shares in an IPO. Shares were priced at $20 and rose to around $30 later in the day, suggesting a market cap of $16.5 billion.
Yesterday, Groupon stock finished at $8.57; its high-low range over the last year is $12.67-$5.04. Market cap is now $5.85 billion.
Sounds pretty high to me.
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