Groupon's Q4 Sales up 194%, user base overtake 33 million

In its first quarter as a public company, Groupon on Wednesday posted a loss of $.08 per share, which sent the company’s stock sliding in after-hours trading.

Analysts  forecasted Groupon's   revenues to be  $473 million. Groupon beat the latter figure with sales of $506.5 million,  up 194% vs. the comparable period in 2010.

For the full year 2011, Groupon’s revenues jumped 419% to $1.6 billion vs. $312.9 million in 2010. The companies worldwide customer base grew to 33 million-plus, an increase of 275% for the year and more than 20% quarter over quarter. Active customers are defined as having purchased a Groupon in the previous 12 months.

• Revenue of $506.5 million, up 194% year-over-year
• Free Cash Flow of $155.1 million, up 258% year-over-year
• Operating Income of $15.0 million, up from $336.1 million loss
• Non-GAAP EPS of negative $0.02, including $0.07 of tax from international operations, up from negative $0.53
• Active customers increase to over 33 million, up over 275% year-over-year

Groupon’s earnings come after the company’s valuation swelled to $18 billion after it went public on Nov. 4. The stock crashed later that month, falling below $17 — $3 less than its IPO price. Since then, the stock has recovered, topping $25 on Wednesday ahead of the announcement.

Industry sources however refuse to  " believe" Groupon story as a bubble, and point out that Groupon is probably the biggest  Daily Deal Business to who have matured and grown beyond the bubble ,Around  170 daily deals competitors shut down in 2011 and Groupon’s closest rival, LivingSocial, is one-sixth its size

Continue Reading →

The Truth About Groupon's February Revenue

Groupon's U.S. sales collapsed in February according to data gathered by a TechCrunch source.

The source ran a program that collected data off Groupon's site to tabulate sales. The data might not be dollar for dollar accurate, but it could easily be accurate from a direction perspective.

The chart above shows a pretty good estimate of Groupon’s monthly U.S. revenues based on an analysis of every Groupon deal on its site over the last year (each deal page shows how many Groupons were sold and the price). Some key takeaways: From January, 2010 to January 2011, Groupon’s U.S. monthly revenues grew eightfold from $11 million to $89 million. But February saw a huge 30 percent drop-off to $62 million. Was that a backlash because of the Super Bowl ads or simply a breather after three months of crazy holiday deals?

When you add up all of the monthly figures for 2010, it comes to an estimate of $460 million for Groupon’s annual U.S. revenue. That is 60 percent of Groupon’s rumored worldwide 2010 revenue of $760 million reported by the WSJ. And it also gels with this report on the U.S. group buying industry, which estimated total 2010 U.S. group buying revenues at $1.1 billion, with Groupon accounting for less than half. But the numbers being thrown out for Groupon’s 2011 revenues are in the $3 billion to $4 billion range. That means that either these estimates are low (a possibility), or that the bulk of Groupon’s growth is overseas.

Continue Reading →