Hints and tips:
...It bought rival LivingSocial, abandoned sluggish overseas markets, launched the voucherless Groupon+ loyalty programme and began selling goods directly....
...LivingSocial was valued at $6bn in December 2011....
...OpBandit was founded in 2012 by Brian Muller, who previously led data science at LivingSocial, the online deals company, and Blaine Sheldon, who previously worked at Graham Holdings’ Slate Group....
...The Chicago-based start-up gained early momentum by targeting its services to other start-ups, particularly those selling daily deals, such as LivingSocial, and those forming the “sharing economy”....
...LivingSocial has raised $110m in new financing from existing investors, despite growing pessimism about the sustainability of the daily deals market....
...LivingSocial is the second-largest provider of online discounts at local businesses behind Groupon....
...The daily deals industry is showing signs of flagging, putting increased pressure to diversify on companies such as Groupon and LivingSocial that rely on the online discounts for the bulk of their revenues...
...LivingSocial, Groupon’s biggest competitor in the US, fired 400 staff on Thursday after an operational review of its US business....
...A $169m impairment charge on LivingSocial, the coupon website in which Amazon invested $175m in 2010, helped drive the loss, although operating costs also grew faster than revenues as Amazon continues its...
...Well-paid employees might commission an order for a party all their similarly well-paid friends will attend, or include the product in holiday gift baskets for them....
...No LivingSocial executives or earlier investors are cashing out....
...Together, Groupon and LivingSocial generate three-quarters of revenues in the overall daily deals market....
...For example, Visa customers in Atlanta who had bought a LivingSocial voucher were offered a second voucher to give to a friend if they agreed to switch the credit card they had on file with LivingSocial...
...“LivingSocial choreographed that whole thing,” Mr O’Shaughnessy said....
...Tech news from around the web: PayPal, eBay’s payment service, is looking to take on Groupon and LivingSocial with plans to start offering coupons tailored to users’ buying habits and mobile phone locations...
...LivingSocial, the world’s second biggest group discount website by customers after Groupon, has agreed to buy Ticket Monster, a South Korean equivalent site, to strengthen its presence in Asia....
...Earlier this week, LivingSocial, the online coupon seller and competitor to Groupon, said it was raising $400m in private markets, an indication that many companies are pursuing alternatives to going public...
...Square, LivingSocial, and Spotify are also on SecondMarket’s most-watched list. But Mr Grundfest said it was unlikely that investors would flock to these companies the way they did to Facebook....
...Return Path’s clients include Yahoo, other large email brands and online discount deals start-up LivingSocial, says company president George Bilbrey....
...Goldman acknowledged the share price risk of expiring lock-ups on shares and the departure of key executives now that they can cash in shares, as well as of competition from LivingSocial and others generating...
...Analysts are worried that Groupon may struggle to achieve profitability given strong competition from LivingSocial and similar products from Google, Facebook and others....
...However, that may be more palatable than stumping up another large round of funding to enable Keynoir to go it alone against the likes of Groupon and its largest rival LivingSocial, which is looking to raise...
...Vente-privee, the French flash sales sites site, has unveiled the management team to help it take on Groupon and Livingsocial in the US, TechCrunch reports....
...also drew attention when its chairman spoke publicly about the company’s growth during its “quiet period”, and it faced questions about the high cost of acquiring new business, as well as competition from LivingSocial...
...The company’s core business model, which has been copied by several hundred competitors, including LivingSocial, Google, and American Express, raised further concerns about the company’s long-term sustainability...
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