Pakistanis angry over detentions in Times Sq. case Monday, May 24, 2010
ISLAMABAD – Relatives of three men detained by Pakistan for alleged links to the suspect in the attempted Times Square bombing say the men are innocent.
They
AFP - Thursday, August 6TAIPEI (AFP) - - Taiwan's Beijing-friendly government on Wednesday denied boycotting an Australian film festival amid a row over the e
BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered a double blow on Thursday as a senior party ally in east German
Minister seeks closure of anti-Berlusconi websites Wednesday, December 16, 2009
ROME (AFP) - – The Italian government moved Tuesday to close down Internet sites encouraging further violence against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who
By ELAINE KURTENBACH,AP Business Writer AP - Wednesday, March 18SHANGHAI - Asia's stock market rally seemed to be running out of steam Wednesday, despite an
Edition:
U.S.
Africa
Arabic
Argentina
Brazil
Canada
China
France
Germany
India
Italy
Japan
Latin America
Mexico
Russia
Spain
United Kingdom
Home
Business
Business Home
Economy
Technology
Media
Small Business
Green Business
Legal
Deals
Earnings
Summits
Business Video
Markets
Markets Home
U.S. Markets
European Markets
Asian Markets
Global Market Data
Indices
M&A
Stocks
Bonds
Currencies
Commodities
Futures
Funds
peHUB
World
World Home
U.S.
Brazil
China
Euro Zone
Japan
Mexico
Russia
Afghan Journal
Africa Journal
India Insight
Global News Journal
Pakistan: Now or Never?
World Video
Politics
Politics Home
Front Row Washington
Politics Video
Technology
Technology Home
MediaFile
Science
Tech Video
Opinion
Opinion Home
Chrystia Freeland
Felix Salmon
Breakingviews
George Chen
Bernd Debusmann
Gregg Easterbrook
James Pethokoukis
James Saft
John Wasik
Christopher Whalen
Ian Bremmer
Mohamed El-Erian
Lawrence Summers
The Great Debate
Unstructured Finance
Newsmaker
MuniLand
Money
Money Home
Analyst Research
Global Investing
MuniLand
Reuters Money
Alerts
Watchlist
Portfolio
Stock Screener
Fund Screener
Personal Finance Video
Life & Culture
Health
Sports
Arts
Faithworld
Business Traveler
Left Field
Entertainment
Oddly Enough
Lifestyle Video
Pictures
Pictures Home
Reuters Photographers
Full Focus
Video
Article
Comments (0)
Editor's Choice
UK MP calls for BlackBerry Messenger outtage
Health spending knottier than Medicare shows
Rice from town near Tokyo is radiation-free
Junk food still stars in TV ads seen by kids
Apple copycat "hiPhone 5" comes calling in China
Sleep apnea linked to memory decline, dementia
Special Report: Bad weather good for forecasters
Breakingviews: Apple as the first $1 trillion co?
Video: Saliva can tell scientists how old you are
Slideshow: Animals around the world
Follow Reuters
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
YouTube
Read
Kansas returns health insurance exchange grant
09 Aug 2011
What happened on night of deadly Afghanistan helicopter crash?
10:26am EDT
Wall Street rattled by French bank worries
|
11:43am EDT
First tax-free holiday in Arkansas a boon for business
08 Aug 2011
US STOCKS-Wall Street set to fall after snap-back rally
8:34am EDT
Discussed
189
U.S. loses AAA credit rating from S&P
172
Analysis: Obama and Bernanke out of ammo to boost jobs, growth
151
Obama says he inherited economic problems
Watched
UK riots spread from London
12:29am EDT
Sony distribution centre up in flames
Tue, Aug 9 2011
UK riot thugs steal from injured boy
Tue, Aug 9 2011
Groupon cuts marketing costs, hiring costs jump
Tweet
Share this
Email
Print
Related News
UPDATE 3-Lundbeck cuts R&D jobs as Q2 beats consensus
7:12am EDT
Dish Network misses Street and loses subscribers
Tue, Aug 9 2011
AOL reports disappointing ad growth
Tue, Aug 9 2011
Tyson Foods profit down on higher feed costs
Mon, Aug 8 2011
Groupon doubles users, will drop controversial metric
Fri, Aug 5 2011
Analysis & Opinion
A trillion-dollar Apple?
Entitlement reform would indicate maturity
Related Topics
Technology »
Deals »
Global Deals Review: 2011 Q2 »
Global Deals Review »
Small Business »
Inflows Outflows »
Media »
An online coupon sent via email from Groupon is pictured on a laptop screen November 29, 2010 in Los Angeles.
Credit: Reuters/Fred Prouser
By Alistair Barr
SAN FRANCISCO |
Wed Aug 10, 2011 8:22am EDT
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Groupon Inc's second-quarter loss more than doubled as it hired more than 1,000 new employees, even though the Internet daily deals company trimmed back its marketing costs.
Revenue rose to $878 million in the second quarter compared with $644.7 million in the first quarter, and rose more than 900 percent from $87.3 million in the second quarter of 2010, the company said in the S-1 filing, an update of its original filing for its initial public offering.
The numbers show that Groupon's growth slowed from the first quarter. Revenue was up 36 percent in the second quarter, below growth of 63 percent in the first quarter.
The second-quarter net loss attributable to Groupon was $102.7 million, in line with the first quarter and more than double the $36.8 million loss from the second quarter of 2010.
In June, Groupon filed to raise $750 million in an IPO. The move revealed a company growing quickly, but losing money. Some analysts have questioned a business model vulnerable to competition from companies like Google Inc, and which relies on a huge, costly sales staff to enlist merchants and handle customer service.
Some analysts worry that the company will keep having to spend large amounts of money to attract and retain customers.
Marketing costs fell to $170.5 million in the second quarter, according to the filing. Groupon spent $208 million on marketing during the first quarter, up from $4 million in the same period a year earlier.
That spending is bringing more users to the site. Subscribers jumped to 115.7 million from 83.1 million at the end of the first quarter, the company said in its filing, confirming a Reuters report last week.
But Groupon said about 40 percent of its subscribers in North America came through word of mouth, a new disclosure. That suggests Groupon did not have to spend as much on marketing to attract subscribers.
ACCOUNTING FOR MARKETING EXPENSES
Selling, general and administrative expenses rose to $273 million in the second quarter from $178.9 million in the first. That was driven by hiring: Groupon hired more than 1,000 employees in the period, lifting its sales force to more than 4,800 people.
Caving in to investor pressure, Groupon also dropped references to a financial metric it touted as a good indicator of its performance.
Concern about marketing costs led some to question Groupon's use of "adjusted consolidated segment operating income", or ACSOI, which excludes online marketing expenses, stock-based compensation and acquisition-related items.
In the first quarter of 2011, Groupon reported a $117 million operating loss, but ACSOI was almost $82 million. That's partly because some $180 million of online marketing spending had been stripped out.
The company in its latest filing used a measure that includes marketing expenses, but not stock-based compensation or acquisition costs. On this basis, Groupon lost $62.3 million in the second quarter, an improvement from the first quarter when it lost $98.3 million.
Cumulative customers, or Groupon subscribers who have purchased deals, topped 23 million, up from 15.8 million as of March 31. The company sold 32.5 million deals as of June 30, up from 28.1 million at the end of the first quarter.
Average revenue per subscriber was $9, down from $10 in the previous quarter and $13 a year earlier. But the company sold an average of four Groupons per customer, up from 3.8 in the first quarter and three a year earlier.
The company generated an average of $27 in revenue from each Groupon it sold. That compares to $23 in the first quarter and $21 a year earlier.
Despite reports that some merchants are unhappy with their Groupon experiences, many still seem to be lining up to offer deals, according to the updated IPO filing.
Groupon featured 78,466 merchants as of June 30, up from 56,781 three months earlier. The merchant backlog, or the number of merchants waiting to run a deal with Groupon, topped 49,000 at the end of the second quarter, up almost 20 percent from March 31.
(Editing by Edwin Chan, Brad Dorfman and Derek Caney)
Technology
Deals
Global Deals Review: 2011 Q2
Global Deals Review
Small Business
Inflows Outflows
Media
Related Quotes and News
Company
Price
Related News
Tweet this
Link this
Share this
Digg this
Email
Reprints
We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/
Comments (0)
Be the first to comment on reuters.com.
Add yours using the box above.
Social Stream (What's this?)
Edition:
U.S.
Africa
Arabic
Argentina
Brazil
Canada
China
France
Germany
India
Italy
Japan
Latin America
Mexico
Russia
Spain
United Kingdom
Back to top
Reuters.com
Business
Markets
World
Politics
Technology
Opinion
Money
Pictures
Videos
Site Index
Mobile
Legal
Bankruptcy Law
California Legal
New York Legal
Securities Law
Support & Contact
Contact Us
Advertise With Us
Connect with Reuters
Twitter
Facebook
LinkedIn
RSS
Our Flagship financial information platform incorporating Reuters Insider
An ultra-low latency infrastructure for electric trading and data distribution
A connected approach to governance, risk and compliance
Our next generation legal research platform
Our global tax workstation
Thomsonreuters.com
About Thomson Reuters
Investor Relations
Careers
Contact Us
Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests.
NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here.