According to Kara Swisher, Google is sniffing around local deal-of-the-day site, Groupon. Yahoo made a similar move a while ago, but the acquisition never happened. Sources say prices being considered are well above the $2 and $3 billion that was on the table from Yahoo.
But sources cautioned that the talks are not complete, and could also end up without any result, as the Yahoo discussions did.
In an email, a Google spokesperson said with some style: “Per usual, we don’t comment on rumor or speculation. If we did we’d be busy 24/7!”
A Groupon spokesperson was also sassy, noting: “Thanks for the heads-up!”
Groupon’s revenues are reportedly above $50 million a month. There is no reason they need to offer up any kind of discount. There are few companies who could afford to buy them: Microsoft, Amazon, eBay, and (of course) Google.
Henry Blodget says “Hell, Yes!” Google should buy Groupon. He also believes they should pick up Twitter and Foursquare. Primary motivations being that Google has money in the bank and paper stacked to the ceiling. Even if they were to buy these companies and they all went belly up, Google wouldn’t even notice.
With Google being interested in social and not having much success creating these tools internally, maybe acquisition is the answer.