10 Indian Group Buying Sites As Groupon Sinks Below Issue

Early this year, in an article mocking the group buying site stampede, we'd been rhetorical in questioning these ventures.

And then we turned more gloomy on eCommerce valley

Now more news turnsup on rapidly nosediving internet play valuations.

DealBook Writes

“Unable to break a three-day slide, shares of Groupon tumbled again on Wednesday and For the first time since it went public earlier this month, Groupon broke below its offering price of $20 per share. Shares of Groupon fell 16 percent on Wednesday to close at $16.96.”

A cursory reading of comments in the article reflect that everybody knows the problems the model faces.

In the US market, Technology companies have largely outperformed other sectors in their debuts this year. Shares of LinkedIn, for instance, doubled on their first day of trading, while Yandex, the Russian search engine, surged more than 55 percent on its debut.

But the fall has been equally spectacular. Pandora, which went public in June, has dropped nearly a third from its offering price. Renren, often described as the Facebook of China, is about 74 percent below its offering price. Both Pandora and Renren tumbled again on Wednesday, with Pandora off roughly 11 percent and Renren down 6 percent.

Demand Media
Offering price: $17
Tuesday’s closing price: $6.85
Current market value: $574 million

Groupon
Offering price: $20
Wednesday’s closing price: $16.96
Current market value: $10.82 billion

LinkedIn
Offering price: $45
Wednesday’s closing price: $66.00
Current market value: $6.36 billion

Pandora
Offering price: $16
Wednesday’s closing price: $10.51
Current market value: $1.69 billion

Renren
Offering price: $14
Wednesday’s closing price: $3.75
Current market value: $1.47 billion

Yandex
Offering price: $25
Wednesday’s closing price: $20.05
Current market value: $6.48 billion

Looking for a deeper moat for sustainable businesses. Hopefully. Funded.