I personally wonder how heavily the Groupon brand affects the way Google is thinking about this. The Groupon model is reproducible, esp. by Google, who has an

I personally wonder how heavily the Groupon brand affects the way Google is thinking about this. The Groupon model is reproducible, esp. by Google, who has an army of sales reps. But the brand isn't, and I can't help but think Google wants badly to keep it out of someone else's hands. There will be a lot of money to be made through the Groupon model for a long time to come, and I can understand Google hating the idea of fighting for brand recognition against Groupon should it get in the hands of Microsoft or Yahoo. I'm guessing, of course, but the Groupon brand is f###ing golden.