I don't believe a buyout is coming anytime soon. Rich Williams is in the middle of turning the ship around.
Anyone interested in GRPN won't want to dismiss the man who is finally starting to make things work. Who is finally focusing on the bottom line and not just the top line.
No one should be so conceited to think they could do better than him. If it were so easy, plenty of people had the opportunity to do it before him.
Anyone interested in buying out GRPN wants Williams to finish divesting GRPN of what doesn't work and costs to much money to run. GRPN needs to divest of more foreign business. They don't want to pay for the garbage.
Rich Williams is building the high margin business. If he adds revenues of $50 million to it, they could drop the entire merchandize side of the business and GRPN would be profitable.
Anyone with the kind of money it will cost to take over GRPN will be willing to pay a premium for a sparkling gem.
Alibaba has a 5% stake and about a 25% unrealized gain right now. I would think before a buyout came from them, they would raise their stake in GRPN. We'll all know about it when the SEC forms are filed.
The player who will come forward to scoop up GRPN will be some company that stands to gain the most from cross marketing to GRPN's existing customer base.
Alibaba and Amazon are natural fits. Netflix and other entertainment conglomerates might fit the bill too.
I've said before that Trip Advisor could be a player in that regard, and someone else opined that Yelp would be good too.
The one to finally come forwards will be the one that feels it has the best cross marketing fit.
I think part of it depends upon what GRPN eventually evolves into.
Right now I think a PPS under $5 is a buy, under $4.50 is a great buy and if GRPN ever settled back under $4 it would be an outrageous opportunity to buy for a child's college fund.
There's still time to watch what Rich Williams is doing before diving in to buy more GRPN. Just to be safe, folks can watch to make sure he is lining everything up in a nice row.
GRPN isn't turning around on a dime. They are doing some great things almost every day now.
It's still going to take time. There will be PPS dips and opportunities to buy. I'm watching for them.
