Zeus Kerravala, an analyst with Yankee Group, said Groupon is in a tough spot but he doubts that it will derail the company's IPO.

"There's no doubt it will impact their initial valuation," he said. "I doubt it was a tactic, more of an error. It can give the perception they were hiding something, which causes investors to lose confidence."

However, Kerravala added that there's a lot of excitement around Groupon and its daily deals business, and that will give the company a big boost in tough times.

"I think there's an argument to be made that the size of the user base is the real value, and for [Groupon] that is huge. You can market and sell more to a bigger audience than a smaller one."

Sharon Gaudin covers the Internet and Web 2.0, emerging technologies, and desktop and laptop chips for Computerworld. Follow Sharon on Twitter at or subscribe to . Her e-mail address is .