The online discount firm Groupon is reportedly re-evaluating plans to float on the stock market, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The Chicago-based firm has already canceled its investor roadshow and is reconsidering its initial public offering in the face of "stock market volatility." The Journal adds that the company has not ditched plans for an IPO, but is "reassessing its timing on a week-by-week basis," according to an unnamed source.
Groupon is one of the fastest-growing companies in the technology sector, having launched three years ago. The New York Times says the company’s highly-anticipated public offering was expected to value the company at $30 billion earlier this summer.
But despite Groupon’s rapid growth, some critics say its business model isn’t viable. GigaOM reports that the company is running out of cash, because it is spending so much on marketing, recruitment and foreign acquisitions.
The company is also under investigation from the Securities and Exchange Commission for allegedly violating its IPO ‘quiet period’ after a memo from Groupon’s CEO, Andrew Mason, was leaked, discussing the company’s financial status.
