Groupon has its first profitable quarter ever; stock at discount price

• $16.3 million in profit; revenue leaped 89 percent source

• $230 million the amount the company spent on marketing in the year-ago quarter, which investors criticized
• $117 million the amount the company spent this past quarter; that’s what we call cutting the fat source

» New tech behind improved standing: Despite the company having a fairly mature North American market, Groupon still managed to have a 33 percent increase in its business in the region, thanks in large part to a push to in the direction of mobile apps and the use of relevance-boosting techniques like SmartDeals. Still, $16.3 million in profit (2 cents a share) seems kinda low when we’re talking revenue of $559.3 million, though it beat investor estimates. Their stock price is still far below its $20 IPO, even with the boost due to the good news from these results.

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