Groupon

How it happened

Groupon pioneered the daily-deals model — emailing subscribers steep discounts on local restaurants, spas and activities — and its November 2011 IPO valued it at $12.7B, the largest internet offering since Google, before its market cap peaked near $16.5B. The model proved far less durable than hoped: merchants soured on deep discounting, subscribers tuned out, and Groupon cycled through strategies and CEOs for over a decade, its value shrinking roughly 97% to around $500M. Glassdoor reviews trace morale sliding through the decline (repeated layoffs and offshoring) and, after a European investment firm took control, a rift between US staff and overseas leadership and a sales floor that hired in bulk and cut reps within weeks.

Employee accounts paraphrase anonymous, unverified reviews posted publicly on Glassdoor ↗. See our methodology.