The Groupon board of directors is scheduled to have a conference call today to discuss and possibly decide upon Google’s takeover offer, according to the Wall Street Journal. It’s an offer that All Things D is reporting to be 5.3 billion dollars with an additional 7 million dollar earnout. It would be Google’s largest acquisition ever and add a solid presence in local retailing to the search giant. But the deal may not be fait accompli, some people within Groupon are said to not be happy about selling out when the company is still so young.
Meanwhile, Groupon launched a new version of its site last night. It has two new big features: Groupon Stores (focused on the retailers) and Deal Feed (focused on consumers).
From Tech Crunch:
Groupon Stores lets merchants offer customizable Groupon deals whenever they want, with no middleman and just a 10% commission on all sales, as opposed to the 50% the company usually takes off.
And just like Facebook has its Newsfeed, Groupon will now have Deal Feed for merchants, allowing a casual user to follow all the individualized deals that pertain to them. Groupon’s Deal Feed lets you see a stream of deals personalized to you including daily deals in your area, merchants you follow and recommendations for merchants you should be following.
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