Chicago tech giant Groupon is reportedly looking for a buyer as several of the company’s executives and bankers have contacted a number of public companies in the past month, gauging whether an acquisition might be a good deal for them.
Recode reported the news over the weekend, which sent Groupon’s stock shares up 8 percent to $4.60 on Monday morning.
Groupon, which makes a discount platform for items and experiences, was originally founded in 2007 by well-known tech entrepreneurs, like Andrew Mason, Brad Keywell and Eric Lefkofsky. It filed for an IPO in 2011, at which point it had raised $700 million in venture capital funding and was worth $16 billion. Just the year before, Groupon turned down a $6 billion acquisition offer from Google.
Since then, its value has slipped. Groupon's overall company revenue fell 5.6 percent in 2017 to $2.84 billion and it is now valued at about $2.7 billion. However, it did turn an operating profit in 2017 for the first time since 2014.
Over the last year, Groupon has tried to ramp up its offerings, whether it be through acquiring smaller tech companies or partnering with them. According to Crunchbase, Groupon has acquired 40 companies, including Swarm Mobile and Venuelabs.
Just in May, Groupon acquired United Kingdom-based Cloud Savings Company, Ltd. for $65 million. Cloud Savings Company is the parent company of Vouchercloud, a discount code app, and Giftcloud, a digital gift card app and loyalty program.
And earlier this year, Groupon partnered with another Chicago tech company, ParkWhiz, which helps drivers find convenient and affordable parking spaces. Through the partnership, the Groupon app now allows users to find and pay for a ParkWhiz parking spot, a move that shows how Groupon is positioning itself to be a platform that serves “just about any local need.”
Since 2015, Rich Williams has been leading the company as its CEO. He was named the top executive after joining the company in 2011 and working in other senior roles.
