9 ms·

Ahead Of IPO, Groupon Consolidates By Suing Ex-employees, Pitching New Version

29 points by gaoprea 15y ago

zrgiu_ 15y ago
How is that consolidation ? It's just a struggle for one more push before the IPO, one more spike for their company to be valued as high as possible. It's a smoke curtain. Don't get me wrong, if I were Groupon I would do the same thing, but please, don't call it "consolidation"
- gaoprea 15y ago
  I'm just being ironic ;)
- raganwald 15y ago
  Come now, isn’t it obvious that they’re consolidating their bad press? I mean, seriously, who reads about a lawsuit against ex-employees and thinks “Well, I wasn’t going to buy the stock, but now that I see what massive, cast-iron balls they have, I’m going to call my broker?” It’s not like they are suing someone who might pay them hundreds of millions of dollars and it’s not like they have a chance of driving a major competitor right out of business. This is a nuisance move at best but at worst it reminds potential investors that they have serious competition. I’m obviously the last person anyone should ask for advice on how to run an IPO, but I would think that reminding the marketplace that you have competition and boasting about how you are easily distracted from running your business is not a good move.
  - twainer 15y ago
    Quite right. I have followed investment events for quite some time and I cannot recall a shadier-looking company hitting the open market. It really boggles the mind: WHO is buying this? WHO is telling others to buy this? I know Warren Buffet isn't looking at any of this . . .
RexRollman 15y ago
I am not someone who buys stocks, and I really have no idea how the IPO will go, but Groupon strikes me as particularly unappealing company.
- laluser 15y ago
  I recently interviewed with Groupon just a few weeks ago. The people I met were all pretty laid back. It looks like the developers are treated nicely. Most of the people I talked to seem with the current state of things. Most of the site with the exception of some backend stuff is handled by rails, so you can imagine how much of a mess it must be to have 200+ developers writing feature after feature all on the same rails application (yes, I realize I am exaggerating a bit). I did get some impressive numbers on the number of deals that they have and some of the growth that they are experiencing, so that aspect was a bit impressive. I just wonder how many people are going to try to escape post-IPO.
lien 15y ago
How can you sue your ex-employees and still feel good about the company IPO?
- lien 15y ago
  what a petty move! management needs to grow up!
- trailguru 15y ago
  especially in California - good luck with that
  - URSpider94 15y ago
    Groupon and its ex-employees appear to both be located in Illinois, according to TFA...
Steko 15y ago
Felix Salmon's recent write up: http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2011/10/21/the-groupon-roadshow/ http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2011/10/21/the-groupon... Overall, then, I think it’s pretty clear that people who think Groupon’s some kind of Ponzi scheme are wrong. There’s a real business here, with a real business model. The big question is whether Groupon can execute... If I had to make a forecast, I’d say that Groupon is going to be around for the foreseeable future, but that the error bars ... are enormous. It could just slow down ... [or] become that thing everybody wants to be these days, a platform.
klochner 15y ago
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schadenfreude http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schadenfreude
oldstrangers 15y ago
<speculation> Netflix is strangled by content providers, forced to pivot or bow out. Groupon flounders, is first of the big start ups to drop out. Gowalla and Posterous fight to see which of the little guys goes first, will try to be acquired, ultimately die. VC funding drops significantly, the mini bubble bursts, wall street panics. </speculation>
hummingbird 15y ago
I suspect Groupon is fraud. They are a one time ripoff, and after that have no recurring customers. The faster they crash, the faster Silicon Valley can focus on value creating lasting startups.

29 points by gaoprea 15y ago

How is that consolidation ? It's just a struggle for one more push before the IPO, one more spike for their company to be valued as high as possible. It's a smoke curtain. Don't get me wrong, if I were Groupon I would do the same thing, but please, don't call it "consolidation"

gaoprea 15y ago
I'm just being ironic ;)
raganwald 15y ago
Come now, isn’t it obvious that they’re consolidating their bad press? I mean, seriously, who reads about a lawsuit against ex-employees and thinks “Well, I wasn’t going to buy the stock, but now that I see what massive, cast-iron balls they have, I’m going to call my broker?” It’s not like they are suing someone who might pay them hundreds of millions of dollars and it’s not like they have a chance of driving a major competitor right out of business. This is a nuisance move at best but at worst it reminds potential investors that they have serious competition. I’m obviously the last person anyone should ask for advice on how to run an IPO, but I would think that reminding the marketplace that you have competition and boasting about how you are easily distracted from running your business is not a good move.
- twainer 15y ago
  Quite right. I have followed investment events for quite some time and I cannot recall a shadier-looking company hitting the open market. It really boggles the mind: WHO is buying this? WHO is telling others to buy this? I know Warren Buffet isn't looking at any of this . . .

RexRollman 15y ago

I am not someone who buys stocks, and I really have no idea how the IPO will go, but Groupon strikes me as particularly unappealing company.

laluser 15y ago
I recently interviewed with Groupon just a few weeks ago. The people I met were all pretty laid back. It looks like the developers are treated nicely. Most of the people I talked to seem with the current state of things. Most of the site with the exception of some backend stuff is handled by rails, so you can imagine how much of a mess it must be to have 200+ developers writing feature after feature all on the same rails application (yes, I realize I am exaggerating a bit). I did get some impressive numbers on the number of deals that they have and some of the growth that they are experiencing, so that aspect was a bit impressive. I just wonder how many people are going to try to escape post-IPO.

lien 15y ago

How can you sue your ex-employees and still feel good about the company IPO?

lien 15y ago
what a petty move! management needs to grow up!
trailguru 15y ago
especially in California - good luck with that
- URSpider94 15y ago
  Groupon and its ex-employees appear to both be located in Illinois, according to TFA...

Steko 15y ago

Felix Salmon's recent write up: http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2011/10/21/the-groupon-roadshow/ http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2011/10/21/the-groupon... Overall, then, I think it’s pretty clear that people who think Groupon’s some kind of Ponzi scheme are wrong. There’s a real business here, with a real business model. The big question is whether Groupon can execute... If I had to make a forecast, I’d say that Groupon is going to be around for the foreseeable future, but that the error bars ... are enormous. It could just slow down ... [or] become that thing everybody wants to be these days, a platform.

klochner 15y ago

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schadenfreude http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schadenfreude

oldstrangers 15y ago

<speculation> Netflix is strangled by content providers, forced to pivot or bow out. Groupon flounders, is first of the big start ups to drop out. Gowalla and Posterous fight to see which of the little guys goes first, will try to be acquired, ultimately die. VC funding drops significantly, the mini bubble bursts, wall street panics. </speculation>

hummingbird 15y ago

I suspect Groupon is fraud. They are a one time ripoff, and after that have no recurring customers. The faster they crash, the faster Silicon Valley can focus on value creating lasting startups.