Ask HN: Should Groupon Sell?

2 points by AtTheLast ↗ HN
or should they try to build something special on their own? I'm curious what HN thinks?

7 comments

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Sell, before their personal bubble bursts.
For that amount of money, I'd go ahead and sell. I'd then look for new projects to move into.
I think that selling at a $6B valuation makes complete sense.

It seems to me that if 40-50% off coupons were the magic key to retail success, they'd have been discovered by retailers already.

Groupon's coupons have already been getting worse... more of the "Get $50 worth of x for $25" which is not all that compelling if the overall purchase will be $100+.

Groupon has done a brilliant job of marketing, but I don't think it's sustainable as is. Groupon clearly has a superb sales team and genius marketing, but if I were an investor I'd want to cash out now, even at a $1B valuation.

I think it makes a lot of sense as an investor to cash out with such a high valuation. Especially if this is a bubble that ends up bursting the in next few years.

However part of me wonders if this isn't a bubble, what will Groupon look like and be worth in 5 years.

True. It is possible. I'd make the following points against it:

- Facebook knows where you live too.

- Yelp is also copying groupon..

- There would seem to be little chance that the deals could remain all that great for long, especially if they don't lead to repeat business and loyal customers.

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