Groupon, the collective discount peddler that is a dream come true for bargain-addicted Marina girls and can mean a slow death by coupon for some small businesses, is in talks to sell itself to Google for a reported $6 billion. Yes, SIX BILLION DOLLARS. The deal would be the largest acquisition offer Google has made to date, after the 2008 purchase of DoubleClick for $3.2 billion. This is twice the estimated $3 billion valuation that someone punched up on their calculator a few weeks ago, and sounds insane to us, but anyway. Just yesterday, Groupon quickly announced the acquisition of three Asian startups as well as San Mateo marketing firm Ludic Labs, which will automatically cause Groupon's Silicon Valley office to grow from 25 to over 100 employees. Groupon's board is meeting to discuss the Google offer today, and is likely already busting out the champagne.
Today, Henry Blodgett of Business Insider offers some advice to Google about not using their big "Google brains" to ruin Groupon. We're not really clear what he's getting at, but suffice it to say, Groupon has been super successful as is, without any help, and they managed to "invent a massive new business out of thin air." And we're going to stop talking now because we can not begin to understand how people do that.