Groupon Files For IPO

Groupon filed on Thursday to raise as much as $750 million in an initial public offering, revealing a short history filled with skyrocketing sales and steep losses.The highly anticipated filing offers the first public look at the finances of one of the tech scene’s hottest startups. Founded in 2008, the Chicago company had revenue of $713 million in 2010, up from $30 million in 2009.That number reflects the face value of the coupons sold, a portion of which gets passed on to the merchants. Groupon’s “gross profit” is the amount of revenue it keeps after making those payouts. In 2010, Groupon’s gross profile was $280 million.