Groupon Seeks to Raise Near $1 Billion
Groupon, the famed local deals site, announced this morning that they would start a fund raising effort to raise $950 million in capital. This, in relation to recent events, means that they will likely look to expand on their current system. Groupon currently has the market cornered on local advertising, which most consider to be the most profitable area of the new internet.
Groupon made the impossible happen by fighting off an offer by Google, the search engine giant. Last month Google offered a total of $6 billion for the Groupon operation. However, Groupon decided to decline the offer, despite the fact that it was several times the appraised value of the site at the time.
Now the company is seeking to bolster their capital investments. This, according to experts, can mean only one thing – upgrades. Groupon has been often criticized for only offering their deals through the major cities in the US. However, the company told such critics that offering even more exclusive deals requires more time and effort.
With that in mind, the $950 million that they wish to raise would go a long way towards hiring additional sales personnel. Groupon said that the sales personnel are the vital part of the Groupon system. It is their job to visit local businesses and convince them to offer the deals that will be distributed to the Groupon users. Reports suggest that Groupon pays more than $1 million per year for employees to make such deals possible.
