After months of drama, Groupon, Inc., completed its initial public offering on November 3 and saw its stock rise by almost 40 percent, from an offering price of $20 per share to an opening price on Nasdaq of $27.82. But the stock closed at only $19.04 on December 6. Groupon raised $700 million in the IPO, for a market capitalization of $12.25 billion.
The IPO capped a wild ride for the Internet company, which offers daily coupons on a range of goods and services. Founded in 2008, Groupon grew at a spectacular pace and turned down a $6 billion offer from Google Inc. in December 2010. Groupon filed to go public on June 2, and some market observers believed it might be worth $30 billion or more, but the Securities and Exchange Commission found numerous accounting issues in the company’s prospectus. The market downturn in July and August, together with skepticism about the viability of Groupon’s business model, dampened enthusiasm for the offering among many investors, which helped account for the stock’s slump in the weeks after its IPO.
