Internet giant Google has nearly completed a deal to acquire US online discount firm Groupon, according to a report in the New York Times.
Quoting people ‘with direct knowledge of the matter’, the NYT said the deal is expected to be in the $5 to $6 billion range and could be completed this week. A acquisition of this size would be the largest ever made by Google.
The report suggests that Google is looking at the local business advertising market and that the acquisition of Groupon, a firm specialising in local area group buying, would mean Google would then be the market leader in this emerging area of Internet commerce.
Reportedly Yahoo had approached the firm initially with a price at around $2 billion but the founders of the firm had rejected the bid as too low and also felt that a ‘strong tech buyer’ such as Google would give it a ‘competitive edge’ over competition such as Facebook according to the report.
The New York Times has more.
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