Groupon’s spectacular growth has now been quantified. According to an internal memo leaked to The Wall Street Journal, Groupon had $475 Million in revenues in 2010, and $760 million worldwide, with a presence in 35 countries. It also had 51 million subscribers, served by 4,150 employees. Groupon expects to follow up with with $2 billion in 2011 revenues, according to public statements.
In the memo, CEO Andrew Mason said his company faces intense competition from “clones” – now including major technology companies such as Google. He also exhorted his team to continue innovating to avoid the fate of such companies as Yahoo, Friendster, AOL and MySpace.
“Companies don’t lose to competitors – they lose to themselves. MySpace lost to itself, not Facebook. MySpace essentially handed Facebook the keys to the castle by devolving into a service that wasn’t delighting its customers. For whatever reason, it got stuck. It stopped innovating.”