Head of Groupon Goods Faisal Masud is leaving to take a new job
photo: Getty Images / Scott Olson
Faisal Masud, who was hired away from eBay to help Groupon become a broader e-commerce company, is moving on. Read more »
GigaOM Reads: A look back at the week in tech
Groupon CEO Andrew Mason fired, Google CEO Sergey Brin feels emasculated by phones but not by nerd glasses and Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer is putting an end to remote work. Plus Oscars & Fashion. Here is our take on the week that was! Read more »
CEO Andrew Mason is out at Groupon
Groupon CEO Andrew Mason will be leaving the company he announced Thursday after a disastrous company earnings call on Wednesday. Read more »
From pedicures to pet grooming, MyTime wants to be your online booking solution
Could one startup convince local businesses to get on board with online booking? A Silicon Valley entrepreneur is going to see if local businesses want to get on board with his new company called MyTime. Read more »
The fourth quarter of 2012 in cleantech
The fourth quarter in cleantech saw attention paid to two prominent, publicly traded companies: EV maker Tesla and newly minted public listing SolarCity. It remains a transitional period for the sector as investment declines, with a shift toward those companies able to scale with little additional capital. Read more »
Subscriber Content
Social 2013: The enterprise strikes back
With investment souring on consumer-focused companies, 2013 will be more about the social enterprise, with a different set of companies driving innovation and perhaps a little disruption. Look for the likes of Salesforce.com, Jive Software, and other enterprise players to make headlines in the new year. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Subscriber Content
Social third-quarter 2012: analysis and outlook
Social media technologies continue to permeate marketing and enterprise collaboration, even if investors felt let down in the third quarter by their consumer-facing businesses like Facebook, Groupon, and Zynga. So B2B technology offerings in support of marketing and collaboration will soon steal all the social tech attention. This quarterly wrap-up analyzes these events, and provides a near-term outlook for trends, technologies and companies to watch in the next 18 to 24 months. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Groupon targets restaurants with Breadcrumb iPad payment system
photo: Groupon
Groupon is increasing its bet on payments with the introduction of Breadcrumb, an iPad point of sale system designed for restaurants and hospitality customers. The move pits Groupon against Square Register and shows how Groupon continues to expand beyond daily deals. Read more »
With Savored buy, Groupon moves further away from daily deals
photo: Savored
Groupon has bought New York City-based discount reservation service Savored, which offers diners up to 40 percent off their meals in exchange for making a reservation at a specific time. The acquisition complements Groupon Now, but distances Groupon even more from its core daily deals product. Read more »
Subscriber Content
Mobile 2012 and beyond
Whether it’s the iPhone 5, the importance of LTE, or BYOD trends disrupting the enterprise, there are always technologies, trends, and companies changing the way we define mobile. Here are some noteworthy segments to watch in the coming months, from location-based shopping to apps to wireless networks. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Groupon rolls out its own Square competitor
photo: Groupon
Groupon has joined the mobile payment race with Groupon Payments, which provides a mobile payment service similar to Square. It’s part of a larger effort to build up its merchants services tool and create a new business outside of daily deals. Read more »
In the Age of Imagination, small trends have big impacts
Most small companies can’t take advantage of the big trends occurring in the world today, but they can keep an eye out for small ones that they can then translate into new businesses or companies. Thinking small and being imaginative can let entrepreneurs succeed. Read more »
As daily deals decline, DealsGoRound relaunches as MyCabbage
photo: MyCabbage
With daily deals in retreat, it’s forcing companies that have built up to serve that market to evolve. DealsGoRound, a secondary market for deals, is now relaunching as MyCabbage, a broader service for saving not just deals but gift cards and coupons. Read more »
To Kleiner Perkins’ web woes, add greentech
![MiaSole_0876[1]](http://gigaom2.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/miasole_08761-e1285007255128.jpg?w=210&h=140&crop=1)
Is it the end of an era for the former rock star venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins and did greentech play a large part in that fall from grace? Read more »
Subscriber Content
Readers weigh in: future prospects for Twitter
Twitter seems to be at a crossroads, and according to a recent GigaOM survey, its prospects for the next five years are promising. Key challenges in the near future will be establishing a revenue model and survive the backlash from developers. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Groupon is not a tech company. Why was it valued like one?
Groupon’s precipitous stock decline since its public offering in November 2011 has turned the local commerce company from a web hero to a piñata. The problem is that of false expectations and lofty valuations from a company that was never really a tech-company. Read more »
Startup Togather thinks crowdsourcing is key to profitable author book tours
Author tours have never been a guaranteed way to sell books, so many publishers have cut back on them. Togather, a new Brooklyn-based startup, hopes it can reinvent the author tour by guaranteeing that a certain number of books will be sold in advance. Read more at paidContent »
NEA on energy tech: We’re in it for the long haul
While some venture capitalists are moving away from funding cleantech startups, NEA — one of the oldest and most established VC firms out there — plans to stay in energy tech investing for the long haul and will continue to invest in new energy innovators. Read more »
Attention: The social-web IPO window is now closed
photo: Flickr user Sarah Korf
A lot of hopes were riding on Facebook having a superstar IPO, including the hopes of venture investors that it would help trigger a wave of interest in other social-web companies, which could then also go public. But now those rosy assumptions are in question. Read more »
Who is right on internet valuations? Public markets or VCs?
When it comes to the new generation of internet companies, VCs are from Venus and public market investors are from Mars. So the big question is who is right? Answer is in the stock prices of Zynga, Groupon and Facebook. Read more »
Thanks, Groupon: NEA closes monster $2.6B fund
photo: Getty Images / Scott Olson
Proving that the venture model is working for at least a few select brand name venture capitalists, NEA announced on Wednesday that it’s closed a massive $2.6 billion new fund. The firm describes the fund as “one of the largest venture funds ever raised.” Read more »
Subscriber Content
Takeaways from mobile’s second quarter
Apple and Google still dominate the smartphone space, but look out for Microsoft, which finally has some muscle behind its mobile strategy. Meanwhile mobile-browser developers went head-to-head with native apps, and Facebook continued to buy mobile expertise via acquisition. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Kinnevik cosies up to Rocket again in Billpay round
The Swedish investor has become a new backer of Billpay, a Samwer brothers operation and PayPal rival that’s talking expansion – but what kind? Read more »
Mobile payments coming to a loyalty/deals app near you
Groupon is reportedly testing out its own Square-like mobile payment service. It’s a sign that local deals and loyalty providers are increasingly looking at adding mobile payments services to help build out their tool set for merchants and retailers. Read more »
Groupon expands beyond deals with rewards program
In an attempt to move beyond being a provider of deals, Groupon is launching a loyalty program for U.S. consumers and merchants, part of a bigger effort to become the “operating system for local commerce.” Groupon Rewards gives merchants a way to track and recognize loyalty. Read more »
So what exactly is a tech company?
Alex Payne, formerly of Twitter and more recently of Simple, a banking service, asks the all-important question: What is and is not a technology company? He is right in asking this question, but shouldn’t we also be rethinking how to value some of these companies? Read more »
Yelp gives $1.2 million to settle unpaid overtime suit
Yelp has reached a settlement with employees who accuse the review site of breaking state and federal wage laws. Read more »
Subscriber Content
Social media in Q1: commerce and discovery dominated
Media issues like advertising and discovery along with commerce dominated the activity in social and real-time Web technologies during the first quarter. Google raised some hackles, Facebook responded to demands from traditional advertisers, and Yahoo got a new chief executive. Read more in the full report. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Subscriber Content
Controversy, courtrooms and the cloud in Q1
In the first quarter of 2012 all eyes were on the screen, both big and small. Apple’s new Retina display pushed video streaming, and broadcast-TV streaming service Aereo’s launch was quickly followed with litigation. These events and more are discussed in a new quarterly report. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Marc Samwer out as Groupon’s international boss
After enduring a torrid few months, Groupon has confirmed a shakeup of its international business, bringing in a new chief to oversee operations outside America. But why has outgoing chief Marc Samwer been replaced? Read more »
New Groupon lawsuit targets execs, seeks board seats for shareholders
photo: Getty Images / Scott Olson
The lawsuits are coming fast and furious against Groupon after the daily deal site admitted to dodgy accounting tactics in a recent SEC filing. Read more at paidContent »
Subscriber Content
Flash analysis: future opportunities for Pinterest
Has Pinterest created an entirely new way for users to share content? A survey conducted on GigaOM asked just that question, and a new GIgaOM Pro report delves into the various implications for the social network. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
SEC may start Groupon investigation
A report in the Wall Street Journal suggests that the Securities & Exchange Commission is looking into the company’s recent actions. Groupon recently revised the its very first set of financial results. The reinstatement of revenues shows that Groupon is plagued by much deeper problems. Read more »
Subscriber Content
Opportunities and challenges for mobile deals
Mobile deals combine location-aware discounts with mobile marketing campaigns. What are the largest pitfalls in this promising space, though? Privacy and security issues must be addressed to assure consumers their purchases are secure and their location is being closely guarded. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Subscriber Content
Facebook’s IPO filing: ideas and implications
This report outlines the myriad issues at play in Facebook’s move, from examining how CEO Mark Zuckerberg wants to rewire the world to understanding the company’s infrastructure dependency. But from every angle, it’s clear the effects will ripple throughout the startup and tech communities. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
How Marc Andreessen makes Silicon Valley magic
At just 2.5 years old, Andreessen Horowitz, the VC firm founded by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, has become a tech industry institution with holdings in Facebook, Twitter, and more. GigaOM talked with Andreessen to get his thoughts on Silicon Valley and the larger tech landscape. Read more »
Report: Facebook’s IPO To Start At $5 Billion, And It’s Coming Wednesday AM
Facebook’s much-anticipated IPO looks to be coming ever-closer, with a new report out with further details of what we will see come Wednesda… Read more at paidContent »
Farewell, Yahoo Apps, We Hardly Knew Ye: Deals, News Plus Eight Others Gone
Looks like new CEO Scott Thompson is wasting little time starting to get Yahoo’s house in order: just a few weeks into the new CEO’s tenure,… Read more at paidContent »
Subscriber Content
Amazon’s DynamoDB: rattling the cloud market
DynamoDB, AWS’ latest effort to rock the technology establishment, has many implications for other players in the big data and cloud computing markets. A new GigaOM Pro research note examines just who is affected, and how. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Subscriber Content
Q4 Wrap-up: SOPA and the future of digital content
From SOPA to Microsoft’s expanded Xbox live platform to cloud-based content storage from Apple and Google, the fourth quarter in consumer electronics and media was all about the continued battle for digital living room dominance. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
