美国最早同时也是最大的在线团购公司Groupon（与腾讯合资的中国公司名为高朋——译注）近日以7.5亿美元的价格申请实行首次公开募股（IPO）。摩根士丹利公司（Morgan Stanley）和高盛公司（Goldman Sachs）是Groupon首次公开募股的联合主要承销商，瑞士信贷银行（Credit Suisse）也将参与此次IPO的承销。

    Groupon并未声明将选择纽交所（NYSE）还是纳斯达克（Nasdaq）进行交易。但是，该公司明确表示，其定单符号将名为GRPN。与两家最近上市的互联网公司LinkedIn和俄罗斯搜索引擎Yandex一样，Groupon选择的也是双级股票结构。

    2010年，这家总部位于芝加哥的公司营业收入为7.13亿美元，净损失为4.13亿美元。2011年首个财季，营业收入为6.64亿美元，比去年同期增长了14倍，净损失为1.13亿美元。这家公司目前拥有7,000多名雇员，迄今已经在全球43个国家向8,310万名订户销售了7,000多万个Groupon团购。

    迄今为止，该公司已经募集了5.6亿美元的风险资本资金；此外，它还支付了5.73亿美元的流动资金给早期员工和股东[其中也包括那些因Groupon拒绝谷歌（Google）60亿美元天价收购方案而怒火中烧的人]。其主要外部股东包括恩颐投资公司（New Enterprise Associates）和加速合伙公司（Accel Partners）。

    Groupon表示，首次公开募股的股票并非全部由公司自行承担，有部分会源自“销售股东”。但是，它并未透露任何与这些股东的认购数量或者身份有关的信息。

    （最新消息：从下面这条tweet消息可以看出，似乎销售股东信息迄今仍未完全确定。）

    业界曾普遍预计Groupon今年会上市。但是，由于首席运营官罗伯•索罗门（Rob Solomon）3月份意外辞职，致使公司计划受阻。一个月后，前谷歌（Google）高管玛戈•吉奥尔吉亚迪斯（Margo Georgiadis）接任。但是，从公司高级管理层的变更，到公司申请首次公开募股，这段过渡时间仍嫌过短。

    但是，说到底，Groupon本来就并非一家循规蹈矩的公司。首席执行官安德鲁•梅森（Andrew Mason）一向特立独行，这由他执笔的首次公开募股申请介绍信中即可见一斑：

    我们不同寻常，我们自我欣赏。

    我们希望，客户与Groupon共渡的时光令人难忘。人生苦短，应该帮助别人过得多姿多彩才是。

    还有下面这条（有些人认为，Groupon所在的行业门槛低，几乎没什么传统壁垒可言，因而其成功很可能只是昙花一现。下面这句即是对这些人的正面回击）：

    我们心里只有客户及合作商家。

    我们坚信，曾经辉煌一时的公司之所以衰落，并非因为他们输给了对手，而是输给了自己。而且，一旦公司不再关注客户满意度时，这种情况就会发生。因此，我们也不打算与竞争对手针锋相对。我们会对他们予以关注，但并不会因此分散注意力。我们的决策将始终以客户和零售商的满意度为第一要务。

    以及：

    我们的成功不以世俗标准来衡量。

    我们密切追踪三个主要财务指标。首先，我们跟踪毛利，因为我们认为它才真正代表我们所创造的价值。其次，我们衡量自由现金流；因为在我们眼里，这是考量长期财务稳定性的最佳指标。最后，我们用来衡量公司财务绩效的第三个指标是调整后的总部门运营利润（Adjusted Consolidated Segment Operating Income，ACSOI）。这个指标指的是在产生新的用户采购成本和某些非现金支出之前的总部门运营利润。我们将之视为：与长期发展相关的营销成本产生之前的运营收益率。

    最后：

    这个行业问世仅30个月，与业内的任何一家企业一样，我们的成功之路绝不会一帆风顺，既有辉煌灿烂的时刻，亦有愚不可及的暗淡岁月。我们深知，前途将时有坎坷。对于有志同行的人，我们深感谢意。

    论及崎岖的前进之路，也许我应该在此提及，6月2日，LinkedIn股票交易价跌破了80美元/股的大关。换言之，那些在公开市场购买了首日股票的投资者，如今已被套牢。当然，无论从目标还是规模而言，Groupon和LinkedIn都是两家截然不同的公司。但是，对Groupon来说，此事仍然不失为一个警醒：即便泡沫不断膨胀，没有投资银行关系的散户的投资之路仍然步履维艰。

    译者：大海

    Groupon, the original and largest daily deals company, has filed to raise $750 million in an initial public offering. Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs are listed as co-lead underwriters, with Credit Suisse also participating.

    The company did not say if it plans to trade on the NYSE or Nasdaq, but did say its ticker symbol would by GRPN. It features a dual-class stock structure, as have other recent Internet issuers like LinkedIn (LNKD) and Yandex (YNDX).

    The Chicago-based company reports a $413 million net loss for 2010, on $713 million in revenue. For the first three months of 2011, it's a $113 million net loss on $664 million in revenue (14x rev increase from year-earlier period). It has over 7,000 employees and has sold more than 70 million "Groupons" to 83.1 million subscribers in 43 countries.

    The company had raised over $560 million in venture capital funding, plus another $573 million that provided liquidity to early employees and shareholders (including those angry that Groupon had turned down a $6 billion acquisition offer from Google). Major outside shareholders include New Enterprise Associates and Accel Partners.

    Groupon says that some of the IPO shares will come from "selling shareholders" -- as opposed to only from the company -- but does not provide any information about quantity or identity.

    [Update: It seems, from this tweet, as if the selling shareholder info has not yet been determined.]

    Groupon had been widely expected to go public this year, but its plans hiccuped when chief operating officer Rob Solomon surprisingly resigned back in March. Ex-Google executive Margo Georgiadis was hired one month later to succeed Solomon, but that's still a very short turnaround from new senior management to IPO filing.

    Then again, Groupon is not the most conventional of companies. Its IPO registration includes am introductory letter from iconoclastic CEO Andrew Mason, which includes the following nuggets:

    We are unusual and we like it that way.

    We want the time people spend with Groupon to be memorable. Life is too short to be a boring company.

    And this (which is a direct response to those who argue Groupon cannot stay wildly successful in an enterprise that has few traditional barriers to entry):

    Our customers and merchants are all we care about.

    We believe that when once-great companies fall, they don't lose to competitors, they lose to themselves—and that happens when they stop focusing on making people happy. As such, we do not intend to be reactive to competitors. We will watch them, but we won't distract ourselves with decisions that aren't designed primarily to make our customers and merchants happy.

    And:

    We don't measure ourselves in conventional ways.

    There are three main financial metrics that we track closely. First, we track gross profit, which we believe is the best proxy for the value we're creating. Second, we measure free cash flow—there is no better metric for long-term financial stability. Finally, we use a third metric to measure our financial performance—Adjusted Consolidated Segment Operating Income, or Adjusted CSOI. This metric is our consolidated segment operating income before our new subscriber acquisition costs and certain non-cash charges; we think of it as our operating profitability before marketing costs incurred for long-term growth.

    Finally:

    As with any business in a 30-month-old industry, the path to success will have twists and turns, moments of brilliance and other moments of sheer stupidity. Knowing that this will at times be a bumpy ride, we thank you for considering joining us.

    Speaking of that bumpy ride, it's perhaps worth noting that LinkedIn shares today are trading below $80 per share. In other words, those who bought first-day shares on the open market are currently underwater. These two companies are obviously quite different in both purpose and scale, but it's a reminder of how retail investors without I-bank ties can get burned even while the bubble is inflated...