groupon

Facebook and Groupon are two of the world's largest Internet companies, but their trajectories couldn't be any more different. One will become the largest Internet IPO in history, while the other can't find a way to stop its freefall.

I can't help but feel sorry for Groupon. In just the last two weeks, Groupon revised its fourth-quarter revenue downward due to higher merchant refunds, was hit with a shareholder lawsuit and took a beating from the press.

The result: Groupon's stock price has fallen off a cliff, and then some. Once worth $26.19 per … Read more

Our special guest today is CNETer Zach W., but longtime 404 listeners may recognize him as the voice behind Tina Schwartz, our weekly visitor on Tuna Tuesdays. He joins us today as our ad-hoc social correspondent with a firsthand account of Grouper, a newish startup that uses Facebook to set up a group blind date between two groups of friends: three guys and three girls.

Zach takes us through the sign-up process, the criteria that he chooses for his wingmen, and the actual experience of going online to meet someone offline. If you've ever been curious about what goes on during an online date, definitely check out today's episode of The 404.… Read more

A Groupon shareholder filed a lawsuit today against the daily deals site, claiming the company misled investors about its financial health.

The lawsuit, which seeks class-action status, was filed four days after the company revealed in a regulatory filing that it had discovered "material weakness" in internal controls over its financial statement and that its fourth-quarter results were worse than previously stated because of higher refunds to merchants. The revisions increased its net loss for the fourth quarter by $22.6 million and reduced revenue for the quarter by $14.3 million to $492.2 million.

"Groupon'… Read more

Groupon's revision of its first set of financial results as a public company has apparently attracted the attention of federal regulators.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is examining last week's announcement but hasn't decided whether to launch a formal investigation, an unnamed source familiar with the situation told The Wall Street Journal.

Groupon representatives declined to comment on the report.

The daily deals site said in a regulatory filing Friday that it had discovered "material weakness" in internal controls over its financial statement and that its fourth-quarter results were worse than previously stated … Read more

An apparent security hole in Groupon's Web site has exposed the data of at least one customer, a Groupon customer who discovered the problem told CNET today.

When Stephen Pipino logged into the Web site to make a purchase, he saw someone else's credit card information and address displayed in his account, along with his own credit card data. The information belonged to someone with his same first and last name. Pipino verified that the address matched a business address for the other Pipino and has contacted him to let him know about the problem.

"This was … Read more

For some people, serial killers are simply more interesting than, say, painters, novelists, or mathematicians.

Perhaps they appeal to everyone's inner rogue--or even inner cannibal.

However, some feel that a recent roguish Groupon deal offering a mouthwatering discount on a tour of Milwaukee's watering holes and neighborhoods, might have gone a touch too far.

For this was a tour of the drinking establishments and streets in which Jeffrey Dahmer picked up his victims. Naturally, the Groupon deal was highly price-sensitive: $25 for a $60 value.

Some might wonder, though, whether it was people-sensitive.

As the Associated Press has it, … Read more

SAN FRANCISCO--Talk to just about any entrepreneur in Silicon Valley these days, and there's a better than average chance one name will come up: Ron Conway.

The founder of SV Angel, an investment firm that has its fingers in dozens of the biggest names in technology today, Conway is known by many to be among the savviest investors around. His portfolio is a who's who of the best and brightest in tech--Twitter, Airbnb, Dropbox, Groupon, and dozens of others. He's not only successful, he's also prolific.

In a recent profile in Fortune, Conway explained that he … Read more

SAN FRANCISCO--Despite uneven earnings reports before and after declaring an IPO last year, Groupon CEO Andrew Mason remains steadfast behind Groupon's current product and financial strategies.

Mason discussed the state of the daily-deal market where his Chicago-based corporation fits in while speaking on the final day of the 2012 Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference today.

"Groupon has gone from zero to where it is in three years. It's been called the fastest growing company ever," asserted Mason, reflecting that pace happened because of the "size of the opportunity laid before us."

"We'… Read more

Forget the flowers this Valentine's Day. Go for a lightsaber-lit dinner, the open-source iNecklace, and the flirtatious Fingle app. Bridget Carey shows off tech to woo the nerd of your dreams.… Read more