Groupon Shares Tumble to Record Low

Groupon Inc. (GRPN), the biggest online coupon company, fell to the lowest price since the company’s initial public offering in November amid concerns over its ability to profit from daily deals.

The stock dropped 5.7 percent to $7.33 at 10:01 a.m. in New York, and earlier declined as much as 6.7 percent to $7.25. Through yesterday, the shares of the Chicago-based company had declined 61 percent since they started trading on Nov. 4, 2011.

The company generates revenue by selling discounts -- called Groupons -- from businesses such as restaurants and nail salons. Its business model is under seige from daily deals offered by competitors such as Google Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and Yelp Inc. (YELP)

“People are assuming that Groupon is going to have a difficult quarter,” said Arvind Bhatia, an analyst at Sterne, Agee & Leach in Dallas, in a telephone interview today. “There hasn’t been much communication so we’ll have to wait until they report June quarter numbers.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Sarah Frier in New York at sfrier1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Tom Giles at tgiles5@bloomberg.net