Groupon posts loss, rise in revenue

The Associated Press

Published: Wednesday, Feb. 8 2012 11:21 p.m. MST

In this Sept. 22, 2011 file photo, the Groupon logo is displayed inside the online coupon company's offices, in Chicago. Groupon Inc., reports quarterly financial earnings Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2012, after the market close.

Charles Rex Arbogast, File, Associated Press

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Summary

Online deals site Groupon Inc., reporting for the first time as a public company, said Wednesday that its fourth-quarter revenue rose sharply, but it lost money, and its shares fell sharply after hours.

NEW YORK — Online deals site Groupon Inc., reporting for the first time as a public company, said Wednesday that its fourth-quarter revenue rose sharply, but it lost money, and its shares fell sharply after hours.

Groupon's net loss totaled $42.7 million, or 8 cents per share, for the final three months of 2011. A year earlier, as a private company, it booked a larger loss of $378.6 million, which would have amounted to $1.08 per share.

The company said its adjusted loss was 2 cents per share in the latest quarter, while analysts were expecting an adjusted profit of 3 cents per share, according to FactSet.

Groupon said an unusually high international tax rate hurt the quarter's adjusted results.

Its stock fell $2.29, or 9.3 percent, to $22.29 in after-hours trading.

Groupon's revenue was $506.5 million, nearly triple the $172.2 million it reported for last year's fourth quarter. Analysts, on average, had expected $473.1 million, according to FactSet.

Groupon, which went public in November, makes money by taking a cut from the online deals it offers on a variety of goods and services such as restaurant meals and weekend getaways.

The quarter's gross billings were $1.25 billion.

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