News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Groupon Restates Revenue, Revenue Fell In Half, COO Exits. Parent comment

Re:Groupon Restates Revenue, Revenue Fell In Half, COO Exits by joebadmo on Friday September 23, 2011 @07:35PM (#3032002)
I would imagine it's the employees part. A lot of the speculation about Google's motivation to buy Groupon was about the sales staff, which has to be pretty extensive to cover all the businesses in all the cities Groupon operates in.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Groupon Restates Revenue, Revenue Fell In Half, COO Exits by portman on Friday September 23, 2011 @07:51PM (#3032039)
No, in 2010 they spent $263M on customer acquisition, and only $233M on everything else (rent, servers, employees, bonuses). [1]

[1] http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1490281/0001047469110...

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Groupon Restates Revenue, Revenue Fell In Half, COO Exits by brandong on Saturday September 24, 2011 @09:01AM (#3033127)
IIRC, in Groupon definition, customer acquisition is money spent on the sales teams.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Groupon Restates Revenue, Revenue Fell In Half, COO Exits by InclinedPlane on Friday September 23, 2011 @07:44PM (#3032025)
If it's as simple and as basic as a bloated sales force that can't pull its own weight, then that definitely casts a harsh light on their viability in general.
[ Parent | on HN ]