My BNET colleague Jim Edwards thought that Google was only interested in Groupon to fend off Facebook.

Any decision to sell would have to balance the potential gain against what the company and those involved might lose. With 35 million users in 300 markets, a chance at more than $500 million in revenue this year, and having been profitable eight months in, you can see their rationale.

They thought it had a future, with or without a Google purchase. The founders and investors also believed in the company. Groupon Chief Executive Officer Andrew Mason, who started the company in 2008, had concerns about the strategic direction it would take under new management and what could happen to his employees if he sold to Google, according to a person familiar with the matter, who declined to be identified because the discussions were private. Donnelley & Sons CEO John Walter and venture capital firm New Enterprise Associates.Īs with any potential acquisition, founders can get concerned over what will happen to their 'baby': With Brad Keywell, a friend from law school who is listed as a Groupon founder, he started or invested in 14 businesses since the mid 1990s, all but two of which still exist. He has already brought two companies public. Initial investor Eric Lefkofsky is well experienced. And in a great irony, Google's desire to buy the company, manifested in a ten-figure deal, may have tipped the scale of Groupon's decision in an interesting case study of negotiation.Īs Melissa Harris of the Chicago Tribune noted in her story that broke the news of the deal being off, many of the investors and board members of Groupon don't suffer from business naivetÃ©. The major factor seems to have been Groupon's decision to stay independent and, perhaps, eventually file for an IPO. And then, even later last week, the deal collapsed. Late last week, it looked as though Google (GOOG) would buy local shopping coupon site Groupon for upwards of $6 billion.

Hey google groupon