Groupon, the pioneer in subscription-based online deals, has investors wondering if it can keep the upward climb going when it comes to growth. The 4-year-old company has lost momentum, making it hard for the premiere online deals service to keep its top spot.
Groupon’s shares fell below $3 for the first time on Thursday. Last year, the company lost $54.2 million, or 18 cent per share. CEO Andrew Mason said weakness in Europe counteracted the Chicago-based company’s “solid performance in North America†in the third quarter of this year, according to the Associated Press.
At the company’s peak in 2010, Google was rumored to be willing to pay $6 billion to purchase Groupon. But since going public last November at $20 per stock, the company has lost 85% of the initial value and is estimated to be at around $2.5 billion today.
Still, Groupon isn’t giving up just yet. The company’s initial success paved the way for a number of copycat sites like Living Social, Amazon Local and Google Offers and currently has 37% more users than it did a year ago with 39.5 million customers. But Groupon is fully aware it will have to make drastic changes to keep its sinking ship afloat.