Groupon to IPO on Friday with US$11.4bn market valuation

2 Nov 2011

Groupon online

Daily deals e-commerce site Groupon is setting its sights on a US$11.4bn valuation when it makes its inital public offering, which is expected to take place on Friday under the symbol GRPN.

The valuation is based on 632.8m common shares. Groupon is expected to offer 30m shares of Class A stock.

The company is likely to raise US$540m, compared with US$750m it planned to raise back in June, according to Bloomberg.

The valuation US$11.4bn is half the US$25bn Groupon was originally envisaged to be worth.

All Things Digital’s Kara Swisher says sources believe the offering will be over-subscribed as investors will clamour to take part in a lucrative IPO.

Business social networking site LinkedIn’s IPO in May gave it a valuation of around US$8bn. Shares in LinkedIn began trading at US$45 and rose to US$122.70 on its first day of trading.

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com