Groupon, Inc. is an American global e-commerce marketplace connecting subscribers with local merchants by offering activities, travel, goods and services in 13[2] countries.

"[10] In its first earnings release as a public company, Groupon reported a 2011 fourth-quarter loss of $9.8 million on an adjusted basis, disappointing investors.

[14] The idea that would eventually become Groupon was born out of founder Andrew Mason's frustration trying to cancel a mobile phone contract in 2006.

[24] On August 10, 2011, Groupon updated its IPO filing, after facing scrutiny from regulators and analysts over its use of a non-standard accounting metric called Adjusted Consolidated Segment Operating Income.

Groupon's original IPO filing with ACSOI accounting showed a positive operating income of $60.6 million for 2010; after replacing the ACSOI metric with standard accounting metrics, Groupon's IPO filing reported an operating loss of $420 million for 2010.

Following the website relaunch, the company rewarded a random selection of one million customers on November 20, 2013, with up to US$5,000 worth of "Groupon bucks".

[33] On December 29, 2014, Groupon's shares rose by 1.4% after it was reported that Goldman Sachs was "weighing an investment in one of the daily deal company’s units.

[37] As part of this restructure, they would also be ceasing operations in international markets such as Morocco, Panama, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Taiwan, Thailand and Uruguay.

[40] In October 2018 the separate lawsuit was settled, with Groupon paying IBM $57 million to cover the infringement and licensing of four patents.

[42] In March 2020, both Groupon's CEO Rich Williams and Chief Operating Officer Steve Krenzer stepped down from their roles.

[47] Groupon owns numerous international operations, all of which were originally deal-of-the-day services similar to it, but most of which was subsequently re-branded under the Groupon name after the acquisition, including the European-based MyCityDeal (May 17, 2010), the South American ClanDescuento (June 22, 2010), the Japanese service Qpod.jp and Russian Darberry.ru (both acquired on August 17, 2010),[48] and the Singaporean Beeconomic.com (November 30, 2010), which was founded by brothers Karl Chong and Christopher Chong.

[52] Prior to these acquisitions, Groupon had bought out the mobile technology company Mob.ly, while The Point, Inc., the predecessor to Groupon, bought the trademark[53] On August 4, 2011, the company acquired Obtiva, a large Chicago, Illinois-based Ruby on Rails and Agile Software Development consulting firm for an undisclosed amount, in order to boost its technology recruiting capabilities.

[59] In December 2013, Groupon acquired Boomerang, a Lightbank-backed start-up that allows people to share gift cards and other deals from local merchants with their friends.

[60] Boomerang's two cofounders, Zachary Smith and Matthew Williams, along with eight employees went on to build a new digital-coupon offering, called Groupon Coupons.

[61] On January 11, 2013, Groupon acquired real-time location sharing mobile app and small business service provider Glassman, which was founded and led by Geoffrey Woo, Jon Zhang and Jonathan Chang.

[62] On September 9, 2013, Groupon announced acquisition of European last-minute travel app Blink (founded by Rebeca Minguela), which provides same-day hotel reservations.

[64] On October 2, 2014, Groupon unveiled Snap, a new app specifically for giving customers cash back when they buy certain items at the grocery store.

Groupon's promotional text strategy in the early years for the deals has been seen as a contributing factor to the popularity of the site, featuring a distinctive mix of thorough fact-checking and witty humor.

[10] In response to these issues, Groupon officials have stated that deals sold will be capped in advance to a number that the business can service effectively.

[10] Groupon offers a mobile application which allows users to browse, buy deals, and redeem them using the screen as a coupon.

[98] In February 2011, Groupon Russia announced it would join the Russian Company Mail.ru in order to start offering deals on its social network Odnoklassniki.

[102] On November 30, 2010, it was reported that Google offered $5.3 billion with a $700 million earnout to acquire Groupon and was rejected on December 3, 2010.

Unlike "buy 9 and get the 10th free" punchcards, a consumer earns Rewards by using any major credit card saved in their Groupon account when they visit their favourite local merchants.

This tool is targeted at merchants running deals where appointments are required, for example in the health and beauty industry or for classes and activities.

Groupon aired a controversial Super Bowl XLV advertisement in which actor Timothy Hutton begins by making a plea for the people of Tibet before delivering the punch line: "But they still whip up an amazing fish curry.

[118] The commercial that aired during Super Bowl LII featured Tiffany Haddish, a comedian and active Groupon user.

[119] In March 2011, Eli R. Johnson filed a lawsuit in federal court against Groupon, based on a claim that the company issues "gift certificates" that are not allowed under the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act.

[123] In December 2011 the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) launched an investigation into Groupon after the firm broke regulations 48 times in 11 months.

[124] The OFT concluded in March 2012 that Groupon was in "widespread breaches" of UK consumer laws[125] and were ordered to "clean up their practices" within three months including ensuring its website was accurate, realistic, claims related to any beauty or health products offered were substantiated and that refund and cancellation policies were in accordance with current regulations.

Both decided to raise a collective mediation for a series of questions that the entity dependent on the Ministry of Economy by groupon for the services of the virtual platform.