Groupon’s Q1 Results: Beats With $601.4 Million In Revenue, Stock Up 11% In After-Hours Trading
Groupon just reported its earnings for its first financial quarter of 2013. The company, which is still looking for a new CEO after the ouster of Andrew Mason in February, posted a $0.01 loss per share but says its non-GAAP EPS, excluding stock-based compensations, was $0.03. Its revenue was significantly higher than expected with $601.4 million in sales, compared to $0.02 earnings per share (EPS) on $559.3 million of revenue in the year-ago quarter.
Wall Street clearly likes these numbers. The stock is already up over 11 percent and currently trading around $6.23.
The expectation among financial analysts was that the company would report a year-over-year sales growth of 5.3 percent and an EPS of $0.03 on revenue of $588.92 million for this quarter (with a very optimistic high estimate of $618.5).
Last quarter, Groupon reported $638.8 million revenue, buoyed by a strong holiday season, but the company still posted an operating loss of $19.9 million and a loss per share of $0.12.
“We are encouraged by our results, as our local revenues accelerated and our margins improved over the prior quarter,” said Eric Lefkofsky, Chairman and co-CEO of Groupon. “We had record mobile performance as 45 percent of our North American transactions came from mobile in March, and more than 7 million people downloaded our apps in the quarter.”
One of the main indicators for Groupon’s health has long been gross billings – a reflection of how much money the company has collected from its customers for Groupons it has sold. Last quarter, gross billings increased 24 percent to $1.52 billion. Gross billing for this quarter was $1.41 billion, and the company says it has $1.2 billion in cash and cash equivalents.
In the last quarter, Groupon also reported that it had 41 million active customers, up 22 percent quarter-over-quarter and that it was handling about 37,000 active deals at any given time. In the last quarter, Groupon says the number of active customers grew to 41.7 million – a 13 percent year-over-year growth but just a minor increase from the last quarter.
Groupon has obviously been through a somewhat tumultuous time recently. The company’s ouster of CEO Andrew Mason after a number of disappointing quarters, however, seems to have brought some stability back to the company. Its share price remains low, though it’s up from its all-time low of $2.60. Currently, the stock is trading at around $5.60.
After Mason’s exit, Lefkofsky and vice chairman Ted Loensis were appointed to the company’s newly created Office of the Chief Executive as interim CEOs. The company has yet to announce a permanent replacement for Mason.
From the release:
First Quarter Operating Highlights
- Global units: Consolidated units, defined as vouchers and products ordered before cancellations and refunds, increased 4% year-over-year to 45 million. North America units increased 37%, and International units decreased 18%.
- Active deals: As of March 31, 2013, the number of active deals in North America increased to nearly 40,000, compared with nearly 37,000 at the end of the fourth quarter 2012.
- Active customers: Active customers, or customers that have purchased a Groupon within the last twelve months, grew 13% year-over-year, to 41.7 million as of March 31, 2013, comprising 18.2 million in North America, and 23.5 million in International.
- Customer spend: Trailing twelve month billings per average active customer decreased to $138 from $144 in the fourth quarter 2012, related primarily to seasonal strength in the fourth quarter holiday period.
- Mobile: In March 2013, 45% of North American transactions were completed on mobile devices, compared with nearly 30% in March 2012. In the first quarter 2013, more than 7 million people downloaded Groupon mobile apps worldwide.
- Marketplace: The rollout of Groupon’s marketplace (”Pull”) continued to gain momentum, as email accounted for less than 45% of North American transactions in the first quarter 2013.
Here is the original post: Groupon’s Q1 Results: Beats With $601.4 Million In Revenue, Stock Up 11% In After-Hours Trading
BBC America & Twitter Announce Content-Sharing Partnership
BBC America has announced via a tweet that it will partner with Twitter to offer the “first in-Tweet branded video synced to entertainment TV series.” News of the deal comes after a few days after a report that Twitter is in talks with Viacom and NBCUniversal to host TV clips and sell advertising on the site.
BBC America’s tweet didn’t offer any specific information about the deal or which of its TV shows would be involved, but it did namecheck hit series Doctor Who and Top Gear.
.@twitter and @bbcamerica, home of #DoctorWho & #TopGear, ink deal to offer 1st in-Tweet branded video synced to entertainment TV series
— BBC AMERICA (@BBCAMERICA) April 18, 2013
This has been a busy week for Twitter as it seeks to move beyond being a microblogging platform.In addition to the TV network tie-ups, the company also just launched Twitter Music on Good Morning America.
As Jordan Crook notes, the decision to debut the standalone app on network television is a sign that Twitter is aiming directly for a mainstream audience, instead of seeking to first build an audience of early-adopters.
The company has been building out its site as a multimedia platform with a series of acquisition: Twitter Music was built by startup We Are Hunted, while video-sharing service Vine was launched in January after Twitter bought it in a low-profile buy out.
Original post: BBC America & Twitter Announce Content-Sharing Partnership
Good Morning America Says Twitter Will Make A ‘Big Announcement’ On The Show Tomorrow
Good Morning America has tweeted that Twitter will be making a major announcement on the show tomorrow.
Tomorrow on #GMA: @twitter will be making a BIG announcement… tune in!
— Good Morning America (@GMA) April 18, 2013
So what is Twitter planning to unleash tomorrow? The most likely guess is the official launch of Twitter Music, after more than a week of hints, including code in the app’s placeholder page showing its web interface.
The microblogging platform is also reportedly in talks with with Viacom And NBCUniversal for a content-sharing agreement, but since Good Morning America is on ABC, the company probably won’t be announcing a deal with rival networks.
While a TV show might seem like an offbeat place for an online social networking platform to announce major news, Twitter has done so before. Back in September, it debuted its new profile page design and iPad update on the TODAY show.
Read more: Good Morning America Says Twitter Will Make A ‘Big Announcement’ On The Show Tomorrow
Party In SF, For Charity
The TechCrunch SF staff normally goes to your parties, but tonight you can come to ours. And this one has a mission beyond drinking and tech talk — we’ll be donating the proceeds to a nonprofit, like we’ve done in the past. This time to Teach for America.
Teach For America trains and places recent college grads and professionals in low-income schools. Programs like this can give students the exposure and mentorship they need to develop the skills required for rigorous work in the tech industry, like coding for example.
The venue is at the Temple night club on Howard Street. So come hang out with us tonight — and support teachers — by purchasing tickets for $15.
The party is not open bar, but if you have a problem with that, ask Alexia or Eldon to buy you a drink. Because, charity. All the proceeds will go to Team TechCrunch’s fund on Causes and help us continue to kick Path’s ass.
TechCrunch, fuck yeah.
Continued here: Party In SF, For Charity
Accel Adds Yelp Communications Exec Stephanie Ichinose As First Marketing Partner
VC firm Accel Partners is bringing on its first marketing partner with the addition of former Yelp Senior Director of Communications Stephanie Ichinose. In her new role, Ichinose will be responsible for managing the Accel Partners brand and advising entrepreneurs in the Accel portfolio on their strategic positioning and communications strategies.
This is a big talent win for Accel. Ichinose was hired on as Yelp’s first communications strategist in 2006 and helped scale the company’s messaging at all phases of its growth until it became a public company. Prior to Yelp, she oversaw communications for Yahoo’s Search and Marketplace business unit where she also worked closely with entrepreneurs from acquisition announcements such as Flickr, Upcoming.org and del.icio.us. She was also a member of the Sony Computer Entertainment America PR team that launched the PlayStation 2 in the U.S.
As more VC firms offer full-service agency-like services such as PR and marketing, we’re seeing more communications talent in the tech world jump to VC firms. And firms are also using PR talent to help manage their own brands.
“At the end of the day, our goal is to take founders and companies from Series A to IPO…We can help change our companies’ trajectories by adding this level of talent,” said Accel Partner Rich Wong.
Accel most recently announced a new $467 million fund to invest in Europe and Israel.
View original post here: Accel Adds Yelp Communications Exec Stephanie Ichinose As First Marketing Partner