Groupon

Spending on deals found online -- including the daily deals, instant deals and "flash sales" offered by Groupon and the like -- will reach $3.6 billion by the end of 2012, according to new research.

The figure means the online deal market will grow 86.9 percent compared to 2011, market research and advisory company BIA/Kelsey found.

Deal spending is expected to grow by a further 23 percent in 2013, with between 1 percent and 9 percent growth in the following few years. As a result, deal-hungry U.S. consumers could boost the market to $5.… Read more

Upping the ante in the daily deals game, Yelp announced today that it will now let small-business owners offer gift certificates directly from their profile pages.

These gift certificates don't come with any sort of discount; they're just a simple way for users to buy cash presents for their friends, family, or colleagues. Yelp came up with this idea after a testing phase where it found that keeping deals separate from gift certificates is important because most people don't like to give discounted products as a present.

Here's how Yelp explained the new feature in a … Read more

Brian Stevens faces some challenges as Groupon's new chief accounting officer.

The daily deals site found itself in financial hot water earlier this year after admitting to an accounting error that triggered a higher fourth-quarter loss and lower sales than initially reported. This past April, the company was forced to restate results for last year's final quarter, increasing the net loss by $22.6 million and cutting revenue by $14.3 million.

The accounting snafu triggered shareholder lawsuits and concerns from the Securities and Exchange Commission. The "material weakness" in controls over its financial statement followed … Read more

Tumblr has resisted putting ads on its site for years, but little by little the idea of advertising has become more acceptable. Now, the company seems to be jumping in with two feet.

The microblogging site has hired sales guru Lee Brown, according to All Things D. Brown joins Tumblr from his position of senior vice president of national sales at Groupon. Before that, he was the vice president of East Coast U.S. and Canada sales for Yahoo.

Brown is slated to report to Tumblr founder and CEO David Karp, according to All Things D, which should be fun … Read more

Blue Calypso, a little-known marketing company, filed suit against Living Social for patent infringement just weeks after accusing Groupon of the same infraction.

The company, which says it provides marketing services for businesses via social media and loyalty rewards services, says Groupon and Living Social has been using its technology.

"As a technology innovator, it is our duty to protect what we have created from illegitimate use," Bill Ogle, CEO of Blue Calypso said in a statement. "The current landscape for social engagement is growing and with that brings interest and need for the platform we developed … Read more

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- This is the burger that ended Ariel's six-year vegetarian streak

- Groupon turns a profit, but sales fall short

- Groupon salespeople disgruntled, ready to jump ship, report says

- Groupon shares down 22 percent, despite increased sales, profit

- Facedeals lets you check in for coupons with your face

- Chinese Iron Man spends eight years building himself bionic hands after DIY accident

Bathroom break video: The Red Bull F1 running showcar plays the Star-Spangled Banner.

… Read more

After examining Groupon's second-quarter financial report yesterday, showing increased revenue and a profit, some might think that the company is on the right track. Judging by investor reaction, however, that doesn't appear to be the case.

In early morning trading, Groupon shares are down a whopping 22.4 percent to $5.86. At its worst point so far this morning, Groupon's stock hit an all-time low of $5.80. At its current level, Groupon shares are down 71 percent since the beginning of the year.

Groupon yesterday announced that sales in the second quarter were up 45 percent year-over-year to land at $568.3 million. … Read more

Monday's top-story rundown knows where you live:

Just when you think it's safe to tweet, here comes WeKnowYourHouse.com. The site is a social media experiment designed to show how easy it is for tweets to be used against you. If a Twitter user has location turned on, and they send a message with the word "home" in it, then the site will display it along with a Street View image of the location. Similar to PleaseRobMe.com, it showcases how some users may not be aware of how much information they are sharing.

But you … Read more

Pressure is on for the much-maligned pioneer of daily deals.

Groupon turned a profit in the second quarter, but its sales fell short of expectations as demand for daily coupons softened.

Sales rose 45 percent to $568.3 million compared with the year-ago quarter, but Wall Street was looking for sales of $574.8 million. The Chicago-based company posted net income of $28.4 million, or four cents a share, compared with net loss of $107.4 million, or 35 cents a share, a year earlier.

Direct billings, which reflects the total amount collected from customers, rose 37 percent year-over-year … Read more