Daily deals site Groupon pulled in US$595.1m in revenue during the third quarter, and revealed it has struck an agreement to acquire e-commerce company Ticket Monster for US$260m.
The revenue figure reflects a 5pc increase compared to US$568.6m in the third quarter of 2012.
North America revenue growth of 24pc has been offset by a 21pc decline in EMEA and a 4pc decline in the rest of the world.
The company’s gross profit dropped from US$386.8m in the year-ago third quarter to US$359.6m.
Gross billings, which reflect the total dollar value of customer purchases of goods and services, excluding any applicable taxes and net of estimated refunds, increased 10pc globally to US$1.34bn, compared with US$1.22bn in the same period last year.
North America growth of 20pc and EMEA growth of 12pc has been offset by a 13pc decline in the rest of the world.
Groupon ended the third quarter with US$1.1bn in cash and cash equivalents.
Eric Lefkofsky, CEO of Groupon, said mobile adoption continued to increase in the third quarter, reflected in the company’s record 9m app downloads.
“We’re pleased with our progress, but we still have work to do as we transform the business from our daily deal email roots to a full e-commerce marketplace.”
This is where the acquisition of Ticket Monster comes in.
“Ticket Monster has been successful in building a mobile commerce business in one of the largest markets in the world (Korea). It will serve as the cornerstone of our Asian business, bringing scale and e-commerce expertise to that region,” Lefkofsky said.
Ticket Monster, which serves millions of customers with various product, local and travel offers, has more than US$800m of annualised billings.
The acquisition is expected to close in the first half of 2014.
Groupon image via Shutterstock
