Groupon amends IPO filing

11.08.2011
Groupon revised its initial filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and filed new papers Wednesday that show a different financial situation for the Internet phenom.

The company, which made a big name for itself in the daily localized deals business, in June when it filed papers for an with the SEC. Critics reportedly called out Groupon for its accounting calculations that did not factor in big expenses and raised questions about its accounting metrics.

Groupon said in an to its SEC filing on Wednesday that executives stand by their original calculations of the company's gross profit, but the company also provided new figures that include big expenses for marketing to new users.

In the June filing, said it generated an operating income of about $60 million in 2010 and about $81 million in the first quarter of this year.

In this week's amended filing, the company reworked its accounting metric and reported $345 million in online marketing expenses. It also increased its operating losses to $420 million for all of last year, and $117 million for the first quarter of this year.

Analysts from PrivCo, a financial research company focused on privately held companies, said the change in Groupon's numbers, along with increased competition in the daily deals market, could put the company's IPO in "serious jeopardy." The report also noted that its analysts think it's likely the company will delay or withdraw its move to go public.