The Profit Prophet

The Coupon That Ate Itself: How Groupon Turned Down $6 Billion and Became a Case Study in Founder Ego

Episode Summary

In 2010, Google handed Groupon a $6 billion check and Groupon said no — and every subsequent decision somehow made that one look smarter by comparison. This is the story of how the fastest company in history to reach a $1 billion valuation engineered its own collapse through magical accounting, a CEO who compared himself to a political prisoner, and a business model that systematically destroyed the small businesses it claimed to champion.