If there's any joy to take from this (beyond pure, uncut schadenfreude), it's that news articles like this have permanently stemmed the tide of Groupon imitator

If there's any joy to take from this (beyond pure, uncut schadenfreude), it's that news articles like this have permanently stemmed the tide of Groupon imitators that saturated every conduit of the tech media in 2011. I do fully believe that Groupon (and Living Social) will survive -- albeit as much more modestly sized companies -- but the sea of imitators should evaporate except for a very select few in well-entrenched niches. And that's fine, they serve their purpose, and they do have a legitimate market in which they can make money and deliver value. The rest of us can treat their product as an established commodity and move on.