Groupon grabs more revenue but fails to post its first profit
ONLINE discount website Groupon posted a $42.7m (£27m) net loss for its fourth quarter – despite almost tripling revenue to $506.5m – in its first ever earnings report as a public company.
However, the loss attributable to shareholders, which Groupon put down to particularly high tax rates in certain countries, decreased 89 per cent on last year.
The daily deals website reported its first quarterly operating income in the black since expanding overseas in mid-2010, reaching $15m compared to an operating loss of over $336m in the same period last year.
Full year revenues increased a staggering 419 per cent to $1.6bn, in line with analysts’ expectations, while losses from operations more than halved to $203.4m.
The company said it now has 33m users, up 20 per cent on last quarter.
Groupon hit the market in November for $20 a share, but was disappointed when its stock – which initially jumped to $28 – fell to under $15 within weeks.
Shares have since returned to above their IPO price, but plummeted almost 15 per cent in after-hours trading yesterday to $21.