SAN FRANCISCO - Rapidly growing online coupon seller Groupon Inc.is offering its most tantalizing deal yet - an initial publicoffering of stock likely to intensify a debate about whether aninvestment bubble is forming around promising but still unprovenInternet companies.
Groupon took the first step toward selling its stock on WallStreet by filing its IPO papers Wednesday. The much-anticipatedfiling with the Securities and Exchange Commission comes just twoweeks after another LinkedIn Corp., a popular Internet service forprofessional networking service, saw its shares double in its firstday of trading, evoking memories of the early stages of the dot-comboom in the 1990s. Groupon, based in Chicago, offers its subscribersthe chance to purchase daily discounts targeted to their city andpreferences. For example, a subscriber might pay $20 for a $40 giftcertificate to a spa, restaurant, car wash or yoga studio.
The initial price of Groupon's shares won't be set until thecompany gets closer to going public. That process typically takesthree to four months.
But the shares won't be cheap, based on the confidence thatGroupon showed last year when it rejected a $6 billion takeoveroffer from Internet search leader Google Inc. Groupon hopes to raiseat least $750 million in the IPO, but that figure often changes asinvestment bankers get better idea on the demand for the stock.
The service has become so popular that it now has 83 millionsubscribers in 43 countries, requiring a work force of 7,100employees.
- the associated press
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