Sunday, January 15, 2012
Bradley Associates Info: Google +1 Button Now Shares Directly to Google+
Bradley Associates Info: Google +1 Button Now Shares Directly to Google+
Google has upgraded the +1 button with several new features, including the ability to directly share a webpage to Google+.
“Beginning today, we’re making it easy for Google+ users to share webpages with their circles, directly from the +1 button,” Google SVP of Social Vic Gundotra announced in a blog post. “Just +1 a page as usual and look for the new ‘Share on Google+’ option. From there you can comment, choose a circle and share.”
In the past, clicking the +1 button only shared content to a tab on a user’s Google+ profile. This is in contrast to the Facebook Like button, which posts an article on a user’s Facebook wall. Now that Google has its own social network, the search giant can match Facebook’s button functionality.
Google also announced the addition of +snippets to the +1 button. A +snippet is simply the link, image and description automatically generated when a link is shared on Google+. These +snippets make content more engaging on the Google+ social network, which is why the search giant is giving publishers the ability to customize their snippets. Publishers can customize the code of their +1 button to tweak what gets displayed in a +snippet.
Google says the +1 button has been growing rapidly since its introduction in June. The button is now embedded on more than 1 million websites, garnering a total of 4 billion daily views. Those are impressive numbers, but the success or failure of the +1 button will be measured in clicks, not views.
About Bradley Associates Media
Bradley Associates Madrid Local and International News is the newest technology media news, world financial headlines with business and marketing local events, personal reviews on latest technology and gadgets - dedicated to obsessively profiling startups, reviewing new Internet products, stock market and breaking tech news.
“Beginning today, we’re making it easy for Google+ users to share webpages with their circles, directly from the +1 button,” Google SVP of Social Vic Gundotra announced in a blog post. “Just +1 a page as usual and look for the new ‘Share on Google+’ option. From there you can comment, choose a circle and share.”
In the past, clicking the +1 button only shared content to a tab on a user’s Google+ profile. This is in contrast to the Facebook Like button, which posts an article on a user’s Facebook wall. Now that Google has its own social network, the search giant can match Facebook’s button functionality.
Google also announced the addition of +snippets to the +1 button. A +snippet is simply the link, image and description automatically generated when a link is shared on Google+. These +snippets make content more engaging on the Google+ social network, which is why the search giant is giving publishers the ability to customize their snippets. Publishers can customize the code of their +1 button to tweak what gets displayed in a +snippet.
Google says the +1 button has been growing rapidly since its introduction in June. The button is now embedded on more than 1 million websites, garnering a total of 4 billion daily views. Those are impressive numbers, but the success or failure of the +1 button will be measured in clicks, not views.
About Bradley Associates Media
Bradley Associates Madrid Local and International News is the newest technology media news, world financial headlines with business and marketing local events, personal reviews on latest technology and gadgets - dedicated to obsessively profiling startups, reviewing new Internet products, stock market and breaking tech news.
Monday, January 9, 2012
Hypo Venture Capital Headlines: An Alpine rail adventure: Swiss bliss on the world’s slowest express
We were at the Oberalp Pass, literally the high point of the Glacier Express’s seven-and-a-half-hour journey between St Moritz and Zermatt. We were passing between a range of 6,600ft mountains before our descent towards Brig. In all directions the carriage’s giant observation windows revealed amazing vistas: to our left we gazed down lush [...]
Hypo Venture Capital Headlines: An Alpine rail adventure: Swiss bliss on the world’s slowest express
http://hypoventurecapital-financialideas.com/2011/10/hypo-venture-capital-headlines-an-alpine-rail-adventure-swiss-bliss-on-the-worlds-slowest-express/
We were at the Oberalp Pass, literally the high point of the Glacier Express’s seven-and-a-half-hour journey between St Moritz and Zermatt. We were passing between a range of 6,600ft mountains before our descent towards Brig. In all directions the carriage’s giant observation windows revealed amazing vistas: to our left we gazed down lush [...]
We were at the Oberalp Pass, literally the high point of the Glacier Express’s seven-and-a-half-hour journey between St Moritz and Zermatt. We were passing between a range of 6,600ft mountains before our descent towards Brig. In all directions the carriage’s giant observation windows revealed amazing vistas: to our left we gazed down lush [...]
Hypo Venture Capital Headlines: An Alpine rail adventure: Swiss bliss on the world?s slowest express
http://ping.fm/OgUxR
We were at the Oberalp Pass, literally the high point of the Glacier Express’s seven-and-a-half-hour journey between St Moritz and Zermatt. We were passing between a range of 6,600ft mountains before our descent towards Brig. In all directions the carriage’s giant observation windows revealed amazing vistas: to our left we gazed down lush [...]
We were at the Oberalp Pass, literally the high point of the Glacier Express’s seven-and-a-half-hour journey between St Moritz and Zermatt. We were passing between a range of 6,600ft mountains before our descent towards Brig. In all directions the carriage’s giant observation windows revealed amazing vistas: to our left we gazed down lush [...]
Hypo Venture Capital Headlines: Budget 2012: Take a holiday , it’s not all bad – Leo Varadkar
TRANSPORT Minister Leo Varadkar risked the wrath of thousands of struggling families by suggesting the Budget will be so easy they will be able to afford to take a holiday next year. The minister’s bizarre comments come just a week after experts said every family was going to be €600-a-month worse off as a result [...]
Hypo Venture Capital Headlines: Budget 2012: Take a holiday , it’s not all bad – Leo Varadkar
http://hypoventurecapital-financialideas.com/2011/12/hypo-venture-capital-headlines-budget-2012-take-a-holiday-it%e2%80%99s-not-all-bad-%e2%80%93-leo-varadkar/
TRANSPORT Minister Leo Varadkar risked the wrath of thousands of struggling families by suggesting the Budget will be so easy they will be able to afford to take a holiday next year. The minister’s bizarre comments come just a week after experts said every family was going to be €600-a-month worse off as a result [...]
TRANSPORT Minister Leo Varadkar risked the wrath of thousands of struggling families by suggesting the Budget will be so easy they will be able to afford to take a holiday next year. The minister’s bizarre comments come just a week after experts said every family was going to be €600-a-month worse off as a result [...]
Hypo Venture Capital Headlines:Wal-Mart Names Senior China Bosses
http://ping.fm/2tGFW
BEIJING—Wal-Mart Stores Inc. moved quickly to name successors for two former top China executives, whose resignations earlier this month rattled the retail giant as it strives to gain market share in one of its strategic growth markets.
The world’s largest retailer tapped Mario-José Medina to head its financial operations in China, according to a company statement issued Friday. Mr. Medina joined the U.S. company in 2007 and has served as the chief financial officer of Wal-Mart Puerto Rico and most recently of Wal-Mart Chile. Del Sloneker, a former
BEIJING—Wal-Mart Stores Inc. moved quickly to name successors for two former top China executives, whose resignations earlier this month rattled the retail giant as it strives to gain market share in one of its strategic growth markets.
The world’s largest retailer tapped Mario-José Medina to head its financial operations in China, according to a company statement issued Friday. Mr. Medina joined the U.S. company in 2007 and has served as the chief financial officer of Wal-Mart Puerto Rico and most recently of Wal-Mart Chile. Del Sloneker, a former
Hypo Venture Capital Headlines:Wal-Mart Names Senior China Bosses
BEIJING—Wal-Mart Stores Inc. moved quickly to name successors for two former top China executives, whose resignations earlier this month rattled the retail giant as it strives to gain market share in one of its strategic growth markets.
The world’s largest retailer tapped Mario-José Medina to head its financial operations in China, according to a company statement issued Friday. Mr. Medina joined the U.S. company in 2007 and has served as the chief financial officer of Wal-Mart Puerto Rico and most recently of Wal-Mart Chile. Del Sloneker, a former
Hypo Venture Capital Headlines:Wal-Mart Names Senior China Bosses
http://hypoventurecapital-headlines.com/2011/06/hypo-venture-capital-headlineswal-mart-names-senior-china-bosses/
BEIJING—Wal-Mart Stores Inc. moved quickly to name successors for two former top China executives, whose resignations earlier this month rattled the retail giant as it strives to gain market share in one of its strategic growth markets.
The world’s largest retailer tapped Mario-José Medina to head its financial operations in China, according to a company statement issued Friday. Mr. Medina joined the U.S. company in 2007 and has served as the chief financial officer of Wal-Mart Puerto Rico and most recently of Wal-Mart Chile. Del Sloneker, a former
Hypo Venture Capital Zurich Headlines: Groupon’s $540 Million Loss May Leave Investors Leery of IPO
Groupon Inc.’s $540.2 million in operating losses since 2008 may leave some investors leery of buying shares in a company with a business model so easy to copy that it has spawned 482 imitators.
Groupon, the biggest provider of online daily-deal coupons, said yesterday that it plans to raise $750 million in an IPO, the most yet for a U.S. social media company.
Sales surged more than 14-fold to $644.7 million last quarter, making Chicago-based Groupon bigger than established technology companies like Citrix Systems Inc. (CTXS) and Autodesk Inc. (ADSK) Yet, with marketing costs rising faster than sales, Groupon may not make money fast enough to warrant the $25 billion valuation it was said to be contemplating in March, said Pat Becker Jr., a portfolio manager at Becker Capital Management Inc.
“Companies have to have profitability or a compelling case for a path to profitability,” said Becker, whose Portland, Oregon-based firm manages $2.5 billion. “We also look for barriers to entry and we just don’t see that in this particular business.”
Co-founded in 2008 by Andrew Mason, Groupon has ballooned in the past year as consumers worldwide flock to daily offers for discounts of up to 90 percent at hotels, restaurants and nail salons. The company’s gross profit, or the revenue left after sharing sales with merchants, jumped to $270 million in the first quarter from $20 million a year earlier.
‘Revolution in Retailing’
The daily-deal market pioneered by Groupon may generate $3.9 billion in U.S. sales in 2015, from $873 million in 2010, according to researcher BIA/Kelsey in Chantilly, Virginia.
Subscribers increased to 83.1 million in the first quarter from 3.4 million a year earlier, and the number of deals sold jumped to 28.1 million from 1.8 million. Groupon delivers coupons in more than 500 markets worldwide, compared with 260 for its top competitor, Washington-based LivingSocial.com.
“The whole deals space is the most revolutionary thing in retailing since the advent of e-commerce,” said Lou Kerner, managing director of the private shares group at Wedbush Securities Inc., in a televised interview on “Bloomberg West.” “This is a market that is going to be really, really big but it’s still really in its infancy.”
To handle the growth, Groupon bolstered its workforce to 7,107 employees as of March 31, from 37 in June 2009. Revenue per sales representative in the first quarter was $172,000 a month, up from $87,000 two years earlier, the company said.
The company had marketing costs of $208.2 million in the first quarter, resulting in a net operating loss of $117.1 million. Groupon spent $179.9 million on subscriber acquisitions, as it tries to build its lead over LivingSocial.
Profitability In Question
“Since our inception, we have prioritized growth, and investments in our marketing initiatives have contributed to our losses,” Groupon said in the filing. “Over time, as our business continues to scale and we become more established in a greater percentage of our markets, we expect that our marketing expense will decrease as a percentage of revenue.”
The size of the marketing budget will make it difficult to reach profitability any time soon, said A.B. Mendez, a research analyst at GreenCrest Capital Management LLC in New York.
“It’s not yet clear what their longer-term margins will be or when they will be able to get to consistent profitability,” Mendez said.
LinkedIn Corp., the No. 1 professional-networking site, last month became the first major U.S. social-media company to sell shares to the public. Shares of the Mountain View, California-based company have surged 75 percent since its May 18 debut and now has a market value of $7.5 billion.
Cheaper Than LinkedIn?
On a price-to-sales basis, Groupon may be cheaper than LinkedIn and Facebook Inc. LinkedIn is valued at 20 times this year’s sales, assuming first-quarter revenue is replicated throughout the year. A $25 billion valuation for Groupon would mean a price-to-sales ratio of 9.7. Facebook is valued at $55 billion on the secondary exchange SharesPost Inc., implying a ratio of about 13.8.
To justify its valuation, Groupon needs to convert marketing costs into profit by ensuring customers keep coming back, said Espen Robak, president of Pluris Valuation Advisors LLC, a New York-based adviser to investment funds.
“It all depends on how sticky those customer relationships are,” Robak said. “If they become subscribers forever and you can harvest those relationships for a long time, the money you spent up front is money well spent.”
Internet music service Pandora Media Inc. said yesterday that it plans to raise as much as $123.2 million in an IPO. At the midpoint of its range, the company would be valued at $1.27 billion, or 6.2 times revenue.
Shareholder Backers
The biggest shareholder is Green Media LLC, which is owned by co-founder Eric Lefkofsky and his wife, Elizabeth Kramer Lefkofsky. Green Media owns 21.6 percent of Class A shares and 41.7 percent of Class B stock.
Rounding out the list of top investors are Rugger Ventures LLC, owned by the family of Groupon co-founder Bradley Keywell, which holds 6.9 percent of Class A stock and 16.7 percent of Class B. New Enterprise Associates and Accel Partners own 14.7 percent and 5.6 percent of Class A shares, respectively.
Investors with less than 5 percent ownership include T. Rowe Price Group Inc., Andreessen Horowitz, Greylock Partners, Russia’s Digital Sky Technologies and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News, is an investor in Andreessen Horowitz.
Groupon was valued at about $1.3 billion in April 2010, when it raised $135 million from Digital Sky and other investors. An investment of $950 million, completed in January, pegged Groupon’s worth at $4.75 billion.
Hypo Venture Capital Zurich Headlines: Groupon?s $540 Million Loss May Leave Investors Leery of IPO
http://ping.fm/HJv6B
Groupon Inc.’s $540.2 million in operating losses since 2008 may leave some investors leery of buying shares in a company with a business model so easy to copy that it has spawned 482 imitators.
Groupon, the biggest provider of online daily-deal coupons, said yesterday that it plans to raise $750 million in an IPO, the most yet for a U.S. social media company.
Sales surged more than 14-fold to $644.7 million last quarter, making Chicago-based Groupon bigger than established technology companies like Citrix Systems Inc. (CTXS) and Autodesk Inc. (ADSK) Yet, with marketing costs rising faster than sales, Groupon may not make money fast enough to warrant the $25 billion valuation it was said to be contemplating in March, said Pat Becker Jr., a portfolio manager at Becker Capital Management Inc.
“Companies have to have profitability or a compelling case for a path to profitability,” said Becker, whose Portland, Oregon-based firm manages $2.5 billion. “We also look for barriers to entry and we just don’t see that in this particular business.”
Co-founded in 2008 by Andrew Mason, Groupon has ballooned in the past year as consumers worldwide flock to daily offers for discounts of up to 90 percent at hotels, restaurants and nail salons. The company’s gross profit, or the revenue left after sharing sales with merchants, jumped to $270 million in the first quarter from $20 million a year earlier.
‘Revolution in Retailing’
The daily-deal market pioneered by Groupon may generate $3.9 billion in U.S. sales in 2015, from $873 million in 2010, according to researcher BIA/Kelsey in Chantilly, Virginia.
Subscribers increased to 83.1 million in the first quarter from 3.4 million a year earlier, and the number of deals sold jumped to 28.1 million from 1.8 million. Groupon delivers coupons in more than 500 markets worldwide, compared with 260 for its top competitor, Washington-based LivingSocial.com.
“The whole deals space is the most revolutionary thing in retailing since the advent of e-commerce,” said Lou Kerner, managing director of the private shares group at Wedbush Securities Inc., in a televised interview on “Bloomberg West.” “This is a market that is going to be really, really big but it’s still really in its infancy.”
To handle the growth, Groupon bolstered its workforce to 7,107 employees as of March 31, from 37 in June 2009. Revenue per sales representative in the first quarter was $172,000 a month, up from $87,000 two years earlier, the company said.
The company had marketing costs of $208.2 million in the first quarter, resulting in a net operating loss of $117.1 million. Groupon spent $179.9 million on subscriber acquisitions, as it tries to build its lead over LivingSocial.
Profitability In Question
“Since our inception, we have prioritized growth, and investments in our marketing initiatives have contributed to our losses,” Groupon said in the filing. “Over time, as our business continues to scale and we become more established in a greater percentage of our markets, we expect that our marketing expense will decrease as a percentage of revenue.”
The size of the marketing budget will make it difficult to reach profitability any time soon, said A.B. Mendez, a research analyst at GreenCrest Capital Management LLC in New York.
“It’s not yet clear what their longer-term margins will be or when they will be able to get to consistent profitability,” Mendez said.
LinkedIn Corp., the No. 1 professional-networking site, last month became the first major U.S. social-media company to sell shares to the public. Shares of the Mountain View, California-based company have surged 75 percent since its May 18 debut and now has a market value of $7.5 billion.
Cheaper Than LinkedIn?
On a price-to-sales basis, Groupon may be cheaper than LinkedIn and Facebook Inc. LinkedIn is valued at 20 times this year’s sales, assuming first-quarter revenue is replicated throughout the year. A $25 billion valuation for Groupon would mean a price-to-sales ratio of 9.7. Facebook is valued at $55 billion on the secondary exchange SharesPost Inc., implying a ratio of about 13.8.
To justify its valuation, Groupon needs to convert marketing costs into profit by ensuring customers keep coming back, said Espen Robak, president of Pluris Valuation Advisors LLC, a New York-based adviser to investment funds.
“It all depends on how sticky those customer relationships are,” Robak said. “If they become subscribers forever and you can harvest those relationships for a long time, the money you spent up front is money well spent.”
Internet music service Pandora Media Inc. said yesterday that it plans to raise as much as $123.2 million in an IPO. At the midpoint of its range, the company would be valued at $1.27 billion, or 6.2 times revenue.
Shareholder Backers
The biggest shareholder is Green Media LLC, which is owned by co-founder Eric Lefkofsky and his wife, Elizabeth Kramer Lefkofsky. Green Media owns 21.6 percent of Class A shares and 41.7 percent of Class B stock.
Rounding out the list of top investors are Rugger Ventures LLC, owned by the family of Groupon co-founder Bradley Keywell, which holds 6.9 percent of Class A stock and 16.7 percent of Class B. New Enterprise Associates and Accel Partners own 14.7 percent and 5.6 percent of Class A shares, respectively.
Investors with less than 5 percent ownership include T. Rowe Price Group Inc., Andreessen Horowitz, Greylock Partners, Russia’s Digital Sky Technologies and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News, is an investor in Andreessen Horowitz.
Groupon was valued at about $1.3 billion in April 2010, when it raised $135 million from Digital Sky and other investors. An investment of $950 million, completed in January, pegged Groupon’s worth at $4.75 billion.
Groupon Inc.’s $540.2 million in operating losses since 2008 may leave some investors leery of buying shares in a company with a business model so easy to copy that it has spawned 482 imitators.
Groupon, the biggest provider of online daily-deal coupons, said yesterday that it plans to raise $750 million in an IPO, the most yet for a U.S. social media company.
Sales surged more than 14-fold to $644.7 million last quarter, making Chicago-based Groupon bigger than established technology companies like Citrix Systems Inc. (CTXS) and Autodesk Inc. (ADSK) Yet, with marketing costs rising faster than sales, Groupon may not make money fast enough to warrant the $25 billion valuation it was said to be contemplating in March, said Pat Becker Jr., a portfolio manager at Becker Capital Management Inc.
“Companies have to have profitability or a compelling case for a path to profitability,” said Becker, whose Portland, Oregon-based firm manages $2.5 billion. “We also look for barriers to entry and we just don’t see that in this particular business.”
Co-founded in 2008 by Andrew Mason, Groupon has ballooned in the past year as consumers worldwide flock to daily offers for discounts of up to 90 percent at hotels, restaurants and nail salons. The company’s gross profit, or the revenue left after sharing sales with merchants, jumped to $270 million in the first quarter from $20 million a year earlier.
‘Revolution in Retailing’
The daily-deal market pioneered by Groupon may generate $3.9 billion in U.S. sales in 2015, from $873 million in 2010, according to researcher BIA/Kelsey in Chantilly, Virginia.
Subscribers increased to 83.1 million in the first quarter from 3.4 million a year earlier, and the number of deals sold jumped to 28.1 million from 1.8 million. Groupon delivers coupons in more than 500 markets worldwide, compared with 260 for its top competitor, Washington-based LivingSocial.com.
“The whole deals space is the most revolutionary thing in retailing since the advent of e-commerce,” said Lou Kerner, managing director of the private shares group at Wedbush Securities Inc., in a televised interview on “Bloomberg West.” “This is a market that is going to be really, really big but it’s still really in its infancy.”
To handle the growth, Groupon bolstered its workforce to 7,107 employees as of March 31, from 37 in June 2009. Revenue per sales representative in the first quarter was $172,000 a month, up from $87,000 two years earlier, the company said.
The company had marketing costs of $208.2 million in the first quarter, resulting in a net operating loss of $117.1 million. Groupon spent $179.9 million on subscriber acquisitions, as it tries to build its lead over LivingSocial.
Profitability In Question
“Since our inception, we have prioritized growth, and investments in our marketing initiatives have contributed to our losses,” Groupon said in the filing. “Over time, as our business continues to scale and we become more established in a greater percentage of our markets, we expect that our marketing expense will decrease as a percentage of revenue.”
The size of the marketing budget will make it difficult to reach profitability any time soon, said A.B. Mendez, a research analyst at GreenCrest Capital Management LLC in New York.
“It’s not yet clear what their longer-term margins will be or when they will be able to get to consistent profitability,” Mendez said.
LinkedIn Corp., the No. 1 professional-networking site, last month became the first major U.S. social-media company to sell shares to the public. Shares of the Mountain View, California-based company have surged 75 percent since its May 18 debut and now has a market value of $7.5 billion.
Cheaper Than LinkedIn?
On a price-to-sales basis, Groupon may be cheaper than LinkedIn and Facebook Inc. LinkedIn is valued at 20 times this year’s sales, assuming first-quarter revenue is replicated throughout the year. A $25 billion valuation for Groupon would mean a price-to-sales ratio of 9.7. Facebook is valued at $55 billion on the secondary exchange SharesPost Inc., implying a ratio of about 13.8.
To justify its valuation, Groupon needs to convert marketing costs into profit by ensuring customers keep coming back, said Espen Robak, president of Pluris Valuation Advisors LLC, a New York-based adviser to investment funds.
“It all depends on how sticky those customer relationships are,” Robak said. “If they become subscribers forever and you can harvest those relationships for a long time, the money you spent up front is money well spent.”
Internet music service Pandora Media Inc. said yesterday that it plans to raise as much as $123.2 million in an IPO. At the midpoint of its range, the company would be valued at $1.27 billion, or 6.2 times revenue.
Shareholder Backers
The biggest shareholder is Green Media LLC, which is owned by co-founder Eric Lefkofsky and his wife, Elizabeth Kramer Lefkofsky. Green Media owns 21.6 percent of Class A shares and 41.7 percent of Class B stock.
Rounding out the list of top investors are Rugger Ventures LLC, owned by the family of Groupon co-founder Bradley Keywell, which holds 6.9 percent of Class A stock and 16.7 percent of Class B. New Enterprise Associates and Accel Partners own 14.7 percent and 5.6 percent of Class A shares, respectively.
Investors with less than 5 percent ownership include T. Rowe Price Group Inc., Andreessen Horowitz, Greylock Partners, Russia’s Digital Sky Technologies and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News, is an investor in Andreessen Horowitz.
Groupon was valued at about $1.3 billion in April 2010, when it raised $135 million from Digital Sky and other investors. An investment of $950 million, completed in January, pegged Groupon’s worth at $4.75 billion.
Hypo Venture Capital Zurich Headlines: Groupon’s $540 Million Loss May Leave Investors Leery of IPO
http://hypoventurecapital-headlines.com/2011/06/hypo-venture-capital-zurich-headlines-groupon%e2%80%99s-540-million-loss-may-leave-investors-leery-of-ipo/
Groupon Inc.’s $540.2 million in operating losses since 2008 may leave some investors leery of buying shares in a company with a business model so easy to copy that it has spawned 482 imitators.
Groupon, the biggest provider of online daily-deal coupons, said yesterday that it plans to raise $750 million in an IPO, the most yet for a U.S. social media company.
Sales surged more than 14-fold to $644.7 million last quarter, making Chicago-based Groupon bigger than established technology companies like Citrix Systems Inc. (CTXS) and Autodesk Inc. (ADSK) Yet, with marketing costs rising faster than sales, Groupon may not make money fast enough to warrant the $25 billion valuation it was said to be contemplating in March, said Pat Becker Jr., a portfolio manager at Becker Capital Management Inc.
“Companies have to have profitability or a compelling case for a path to profitability,” said Becker, whose Portland, Oregon-based firm manages $2.5 billion. “We also look for barriers to entry and we just don’t see that in this particular business.”
Co-founded in 2008 by Andrew Mason, Groupon has ballooned in the past year as consumers worldwide flock to daily offers for discounts of up to 90 percent at hotels, restaurants and nail salons. The company’s gross profit, or the revenue left after sharing sales with merchants, jumped to $270 million in the first quarter from $20 million a year earlier.
‘Revolution in Retailing’
The daily-deal market pioneered by Groupon may generate $3.9 billion in U.S. sales in 2015, from $873 million in 2010, according to researcher BIA/Kelsey in Chantilly, Virginia.
Subscribers increased to 83.1 million in the first quarter from 3.4 million a year earlier, and the number of deals sold jumped to 28.1 million from 1.8 million. Groupon delivers coupons in more than 500 markets worldwide, compared with 260 for its top competitor, Washington-based LivingSocial.com.
“The whole deals space is the most revolutionary thing in retailing since the advent of e-commerce,” said Lou Kerner, managing director of the private shares group at Wedbush Securities Inc., in a televised interview on “Bloomberg West.” “This is a market that is going to be really, really big but it’s still really in its infancy.”
To handle the growth, Groupon bolstered its workforce to 7,107 employees as of March 31, from 37 in June 2009. Revenue per sales representative in the first quarter was $172,000 a month, up from $87,000 two years earlier, the company said.
The company had marketing costs of $208.2 million in the first quarter, resulting in a net operating loss of $117.1 million. Groupon spent $179.9 million on subscriber acquisitions, as it tries to build its lead over LivingSocial.
Profitability In Question
“Since our inception, we have prioritized growth, and investments in our marketing initiatives have contributed to our losses,” Groupon said in the filing. “Over time, as our business continues to scale and we become more established in a greater percentage of our markets, we expect that our marketing expense will decrease as a percentage of revenue.”
The size of the marketing budget will make it difficult to reach profitability any time soon, said A.B. Mendez, a research analyst at GreenCrest Capital Management LLC in New York.
“It’s not yet clear what their longer-term margins will be or when they will be able to get to consistent profitability,” Mendez said.
LinkedIn Corp., the No. 1 professional-networking site, last month became the first major U.S. social-media company to sell shares to the public. Shares of the Mountain View, California-based company have surged 75 percent since its May 18 debut and now has a market value of $7.5 billion.
Cheaper Than LinkedIn?
On a price-to-sales basis, Groupon may be cheaper than LinkedIn and Facebook Inc. LinkedIn is valued at 20 times this year’s sales, assuming first-quarter revenue is replicated throughout the year. A $25 billion valuation for Groupon would mean a price-to-sales ratio of 9.7. Facebook is valued at $55 billion on the secondary exchange SharesPost Inc., implying a ratio of about 13.8.
To justify its valuation, Groupon needs to convert marketing costs into profit by ensuring customers keep coming back, said Espen Robak, president of Pluris Valuation Advisors LLC, a New York-based adviser to investment funds.
“It all depends on how sticky those customer relationships are,” Robak said. “If they become subscribers forever and you can harvest those relationships for a long time, the money you spent up front is money well spent.”
Internet music service Pandora Media Inc. said yesterday that it plans to raise as much as $123.2 million in an IPO. At the midpoint of its range, the company would be valued at $1.27 billion, or 6.2 times revenue.
Shareholder Backers
The biggest shareholder is Green Media LLC, which is owned by co-founder Eric Lefkofsky and his wife, Elizabeth Kramer Lefkofsky. Green Media owns 21.6 percent of Class A shares and 41.7 percent of Class B stock.
Rounding out the list of top investors are Rugger Ventures LLC, owned by the family of Groupon co-founder Bradley Keywell, which holds 6.9 percent of Class A stock and 16.7 percent of Class B. New Enterprise Associates and Accel Partners own 14.7 percent and 5.6 percent of Class A shares, respectively.
Investors with less than 5 percent ownership include T. Rowe Price Group Inc., Andreessen Horowitz, Greylock Partners, Russia’s Digital Sky Technologies and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News, is an investor in Andreessen Horowitz.
Groupon was valued at about $1.3 billion in April 2010, when it raised $135 million from Digital Sky and other investors. An investment of $950 million, completed in January, pegged Groupon’s worth at $4.75 billion.
Hypo Venture Capital Zurich Headlines:Hacker pleads guilty to AT&T iPad breach
WASHINGTON — A 26-year-old man pleaded guilty Thursday to writing the code used to steal email addresses and personal information belonging to 120,000 Apple iPad subscribers from AT&T computer servers.
Daniel Spitler, of San Francisco, entered the guilty plea in a US federal court in Newark, New Jersey, the Justice Department said in a statement.
Spitler, who surrendered to the authorities in January, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to gain unauthorized access to computers connected to the Internet and one count of identity theft, it said.
Each charge carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison. Sentencing was set for September 28.
“Computer hackers are exacting an increasing toll on our society, damaging individuals and organizations to gain notoriety for themselves,” US attorney Paul Fishman said.
“Hacks have serious implications — from the personal devastation of a stolen identity to danger to our national security,” Fishman said.
“In the wake of other recent hacking attacks by loose-knit organizations like Anonymous and LulzSec, Daniel Spitler’s guilty plea is a timely reminder of the consequences of treating criminal activity as a competitive sport,” he said.
The Justice Department said Spitler had admitted to being a member of Goatse Security, a loose association of Internet hackers.
In June 2010, the hackers attacked AT&T servers and obtained email addresses and other personal information of around 120,000 iPad subscribers to AT&T’s 3G service.
They included the email addresses of a number of high-profile iPad users including US business leaders, politicians and military officials.
“The magnitude of this crime affected everyone from high ranking members of the White House staff to the average American citizen,” FBI Newark special agent Michael Ward said. “It’s important to note that it wasn’t just the hacking itself that was criminal, but what could potentially occur utilizing the pilfered information.”
Using a script called an “iPad 3G Account Slurper,” the Goatse hackers managed to obtain the number used to identify a subscriber on AT&T’s network known as the ICC ID, which stands for integrated circuit card identifier.
Hypo Venture Capital Zurich Headlines: Hacker Group Says It Hit A Sony Unit Computer Network Again
http://ping.fm/789f4
SAN FRANCISCO (Dow Jones)–A group of hackers said they hit a Sony Corp. (SNE, 6758.TO) unit computer network on Monday, the latest in a string of attacks on the Japanese technology-and-media giant.
The group of hackers, which calls itself “LulzSec”–a combination of “lulz,” or laughs, and security–said it successfully had hit Sony for …
SAN FRANCISCO (Dow Jones)–A group of hackers said they hit a Sony Corp. (SNE, 6758.TO) unit computer network on Monday, the latest in a string of attacks on the Japanese technology-and-media giant.
The group of hackers, which calls itself “LulzSec”–a combination of “lulz,” or laughs, and security–said it successfully had hit Sony for …
Hypo Venture Capital Zurich Headlines: Hacker Group Says It Hit A Sony Unit Computer Network Again
http://hypoventurecapital-headlines.com/2011/06/hypo-venture-capital-zurich-headlines-hacker-group-says-it-hit-a-sony-unit-computer-network-again/
SAN FRANCISCO (Dow Jones)–A group of hackers said they hit a Sony Corp. (SNE, 6758.TO) unit computer network on Monday, the latest in a string of attacks on the Japanese technology-and-media giant.
The group of hackers, which calls itself “LulzSec”–a combination of “lulz,” or laughs, and security–said it successfully had hit Sony for …
Hypo Venture Capital Zurich Headlines:Hacker pleads guilty to AT&T iPad breach
http://hypoventurecapital-headlines.com/2011/07/hypo-venture-capital-zurich-headlines-lulzsec-says-it-grabs-documents-from-arizona-police-as-spree-continues/
WASHINGTON — A 26-year-old man pleaded guilty Thursday to writing the code used to steal email addresses and personal information belonging to 120,000 Apple iPad subscribers from AT&T computer servers.
Daniel Spitler, of San Francisco, entered the guilty plea in a US federal court in Newark, New Jersey, the Justice Department said in a statement.
Spitler, who surrendered to the authorities in January, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to gain unauthorized access to computers connected to the Internet and one count of identity theft, it said.
Each charge carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison. Sentencing was set for September 28.
“Computer hackers are exacting an increasing toll on our society, damaging individuals and organizations to gain notoriety for themselves,” US attorney Paul Fishman said.
“Hacks have serious implications — from the personal devastation of a stolen identity to danger to our national security,” Fishman said.
“In the wake of other recent hacking attacks by loose-knit organizations like Anonymous and LulzSec, Daniel Spitler’s guilty plea is a timely reminder of the consequences of treating criminal activity as a competitive sport,” he said.
The Justice Department said Spitler had admitted to being a member of Goatse Security, a loose association of Internet hackers.
In June 2010, the hackers attacked AT&T servers and obtained email addresses and other personal information of around 120,000 iPad subscribers to AT&T’s 3G service.
They included the email addresses of a number of high-profile iPad users including US business leaders, politicians and military officials.
“The magnitude of this crime affected everyone from high ranking members of the White House staff to the average American citizen,” FBI Newark special agent Michael Ward said. “It’s important to note that it wasn’t just the hacking itself that was criminal, but what could potentially occur utilizing the pilfered information.”
Using a script called an “iPad 3G Account Slurper,” the Goatse hackers managed to obtain the number used to identify a subscriber on AT&T’s network known as the ICC ID, which stands for integrated circuit card identifier.
Hypo Venture Capital Zurich Headlines: Zurich partners with Aifa to support online academy
Zurich announced today (18 July) that it is joining forces with the Association of Independent Financial Advisers (Aifa) as a supporter of Aifa’s online business transition academy, FFWD. Available exclusively to Aifa members, the online hub contains a wealth of information designed to help advisers grow and adapt their businesses in light of the implementation of the Retail Distribution Review (RDR). The insurer said the academy is packed with hints and tips from advisers who have already embraced the challenges of the RDR, includes news and views from industry experts, a downloadable reference section with the latest Financial Services Authority (FSA) papers and Aifa guides on the key stages to developing successful business strategy. Richard Howells, intermediary sales director at Zurich UK Life, said: “We’re delighted to be supporting Aifa and their online academy FFWD, at a time when more and more advisers are looking to industry bodies and providers to help them transition their business models in light of the RDR deadline. “By lending our support, we hope to create greater engagement with advisers while at the same time continue to champion the role of the adviser and influence the wider debate about the shape of financial advice in the future”.” Sophie Fiori, marketing and membership director at Aifa, said: “With over 1,500 firms already registered, FFWD is proving to be invaluable for member firms who are preparing their business for RDR. “Our partnership with Zurich enables us to build on Aifa’s success to date and continue to develop this vital offering to members.”
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