Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (阿里巴巴) bought 33 million shares of Groupon Inc, making it the fourth-largest shareholder in the online deals Web site that has lost 86 percent of its value since going public more than four years ago.
The Chinese e-commerce giant owned 5.6 percent of Chicago-based Groupon as of Dec. 31, according to a regulatory filing on Friday.
Alibaba has also accumulated stakes in online retailer Jet.com Inc, augmented-reality provider Magic Leap Inc and car-booking company Lyft Inc.
Photo: Reuters
A spokesman for Hangzhou, China-based Alibaba declined to immediately comment on the filing.
Groupon spokesman Bill Roberts said the company had not been aware of Alibaba’s stake until Friday’s filing.
“Alibaba has a reputation as a long-term holder, and we’re pleased that they take the same view of Groupon’s opportunity and execution as we do,” Roberts said.
Alibaba’s stake was reported hours after Groupon had its best day with investors in more than four years. Groupon shares surged 29 percent to US$2.89 on Friday in New York, the biggest single-day increase since Nov. 4, 2011 — the day after its initial public offering at US$20 a share.
Groupon on Thursday reported fourth-quarter results that beat analysts’ estimates, driven by purchases in North America.
The company said profit excluding some costs was US$0.04 a share, compared with the average analyst estimate for a break- even quarter.
“If we do our jobs really well, we’ll beat our plan,” Groupon CEO Rich Williams said in an interview. “The reality is we have a lot of work to do.”
Even with Friday’s gains, the shares are down 61 percent over the past 12 months.
On Bloomberg Television Friday, Williams said his company’s stock was undervalued, but that it was not looking to make any deals.
“Our focus as a team just isn’t on things like acquisitions, or being acquired,” Williams said. “Our focus is on building a great business.”
Groupon said adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization would be US$80 million to US$130 million this year, compared with analysts’ projection for US$105.1 million.
Revenue in the period rose 3.8 percent to US$917.2 million, beating estimates for US$845.9 million.
Groupon is continuing its search for a permanent chief financial officer and is interviewing internal and external candidates, Williams said.
“One of the things you saw in the fourth quarter was faster-than-expected progress on the restructuring side,” Williams said on the conference call.
Groupon has exited 17 countries and now operates in 28 as it continues to streamline its operations internationally.
“We are feeling pretty good about our footprint,” Williams said. “But we are going to continue to evaluate it opportunistically.”
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