Coupon Holder

Business Insider's Deputy Editor Nicholas Carlson takes a hard hitting look at Groupon just days before their scheduled IPO. Packed with anecdotes from anonymous sources inside of the company, this story examines how Groupon went from the hottest tech startup and one of the fastest growing companies in the world through SEC inquires and decreasing employee morale to the doorstep of going public.

The SEC is asking questions. Industry executives are calling it a ponzi scheme. Early employees are demanding six-figure pay for 9 to 5 hours. One even filed a lawsuit. Merchant customers are screaming. And Andrew Mason and his board, having helped themselves to $900 million of cash that could have gone to the company, are are now being blasted for incompetence and greed.

What a turnabout from a few months earlier, when Groupon was the talk of Wall Street. Then, Groupon was one of the fastest-growing companies in history, spurning $6 billion takeout offers from Google, preparing to go public at a valuation fo $25+ billion. And now everyone was talking about it running out of cash!

So what happened? How did things go so wrong?
And now that Groupon is finally going public, how will the Groupon story end?

Our sources all asked to remain anonymous, either in deference to the SEC's "quiet period" rules for companies that plan to go public or in order to remain in compliance with severance agreements with Groupon. Groupon itself declined to comment.