UPDATED 11:57 EDT / JANUARY 21 2011

NEWS

Google Can’t Acquire, Launches Groupon Competitor

After Groupon rejected Google’s $6 billion bid, the search giant is taking a new approach to get into the discounts market. A “confidential fact sheet” from Google sent to Mashable revealed some information about Google Offers, an email-subscription based buy-in discount service in the making.

“According to its sources, businesses will get 80 percent of revenue derived from the coupon three days after a deal runs. Google will send the rest in 60 days, after processing any returns.”

The Google Offers concept appears to be identical to Groupon. In the rest of fact sheet Google also reports it’s already communicating and cooperating with unnamed small businesses for a test of its pre-paid offers and vouchers program. Google is reacting to its $6 billion worth turndown from Groupon, which is not surprising considering its eagerness to expand into the daily deals industry, and the fact Google has a tendency to launch its own products. This tendency is exactly what will add Google Offers by default to a long list of Groupon clones.

Earlier updates from Google’s increasing eagerness to jump aboard the coupon bandwagon included, of course, its (probably paused) pursuit of Groupon-alternatives available for buying. This news comes after Groupon raised $500 million of its $950 million target funding in the round that followed its decline of Google’s $6 billion bid.


A message from John Furrier, co-founder of SiliconANGLE:

Support our mission to keep content open and free by engaging with theCUBE community. Join theCUBE’s Alumni Trust Network, where technology leaders connect, share intelligence and create opportunities.

  • 15M+ viewers of theCUBE videos, powering conversations across AI, cloud, cybersecurity and more
  • 11.4k+ theCUBE alumni — Connect with more than 11,400 tech and business leaders shaping the future through a unique trusted-based network.
About SiliconANGLE Media
SiliconANGLE Media is a recognized leader in digital media innovation, uniting breakthrough technology, strategic insights and real-time audience engagement. As the parent company of SiliconANGLE, theCUBE Network, theCUBE Research, CUBE365, theCUBE AI and theCUBE SuperStudios — with flagship locations in Silicon Valley and the New York Stock Exchange — SiliconANGLE Media operates at the intersection of media, technology and AI.

Founded by tech visionaries John Furrier and Dave Vellante, SiliconANGLE Media has built a dynamic ecosystem of industry-leading digital media brands that reach 15+ million elite tech professionals. Our new proprietary theCUBE AI Video Cloud is breaking ground in audience interaction, leveraging theCUBEai.com neural network to help technology companies make data-driven decisions and stay at the forefront of industry conversations.