A report out today by USA Today suggests that daily deal site Groupon may be ready to launch an IPO by November 4. Despite reports that participating in the site's daily deals might actually hurt businesses, operating losses of $420 million last year and competitors killing off daily deals programs, the company appears poised to raise $540 million from the IPO.
The company has scaled back expectations in recent weeks. Earlier this year, some people valued the company around $30 billion (more common estimates were $20 billion). So last week, when experts started estimating the company's value at $12 billion, jokes started that Groupon was Groupon-ing itself.
Even if the company is "only" worth $12 billion now, that's far more than Google's $6 billion bid last year. None of this actually tells us how the company will continue to perform after the IPO. Only time will tell that.
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