Daily deals service Groupon is reportedly looking for a buyer. According to Recode, Groupon’s executives have been speaking with bankers who are in contact with several public companies to try and put a deal together.
Groupon’s executives have been saying for a while that they would be open to a potential sale if it was worth considering. However, bankers became more aggressive last month to speed up the process. Groupon declined to comment to Recode about the rumor.
Originally launched in 2008, Groupon reportedly turned down a $6 billion acquisition offer from Google before going public in 2011. When Groupon went public, it was at a valuation of over $16 billion.
In 2016, Groupon acquired the rival daily deals service LivingSocial from Amazon. Amazon — which owned about one-third of LivingSocial — reportedly gave up its shares in the company to Groupon for free. Unfortunately, Groupon is now valued at $2.4 billion following sales declines.
In 2017, Groupon’s revenue dropped 5.6% to $2.84 billion. This is the lowest it saw since 2013. But the company saw an operating profit in 2017 for the first time since 2014.
Rich Williams has been running Groupon since November 2015. Previously Williams had several other senior roles at Groupon before joining from Amazon in 2011.
Some of the potential companies that could acquire Groupon include IAC and Alibaba. Alibaba acquired a 6% stake in Groupon back in 2016. And IAC CEO Joey Levin is on Groupon’s board of directors.
