Groupon

Groupon Inc. is bringing on two new directors to replace Starbucks Corp. Chief Executive Howard Schultz and venture capitalist Kevin Efrusy on the board. The two are Daniel Henry, chief financial officer of American Express Co., and Robert Bass, a retiring vice chairman at consulting firm Deloitte. They will serve on Groupon's audit committee. Henry was appointed April 26 to replace Schultz, who stepped down. Bass is retiring from Deloitte on June 2 and will stand for election at Groupon's annual meeting that month to replace Efrusy of Accel Partners.

Groupon Inc. is seeking to add at least two directors to its board in a bid to regain investor confidence after a restatement of revenue last month, two people familiar with the matter said. The largest provider of online daily deals aims to recruit a new director who could eventually lead its audit committee, said one of the people, who asked not to be named because the plan is private. Potential candidates include chief financial officers at publicly traded companies, the person said.

Sometimes a deal looks so screwy, you've got to wonder what they're thinking -- such as a private-equity group buying a majority stake in AT&T's Yellow Pages division. This is the age of Google and Yelp and Groupon. Who ponies up serious cash for a buggy-whip business like phonebooks? Well, it turns out Cerberus Capital Management isn't as goofy as it might appear. According to Bloomberg Businessweek, about 422 million directories are still published annually , and businesses pay almost $7 billion to advertise in them.

Five months after going public with much fanfare, daily deals site Groupon Inc. is facing fresh doubts on several fronts concerning its credibility and long-term viability. Despite initial consumer frenzy over its business model that zaps coupon bargains straight to email boxes, the 3-year-old company has been bedeviled by competition, a lack of profit, questions over its accounting practices and a plunging stock price. Doubts over the operation were heightened last week, when Chicago-based Groupon unexpectedly revised its financial results for the fourth quarter, saying it had overstated its fourth-quarter revenue by $14.3 million.

CHICAGO — Groupon Inc. revised its financial results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year, reporting a $14.3-million decrease in fourth-quarter revenue. The Chicago-based daily deals company said it had not set aside enough money for customer refunds. When this refund allowance was adjusted, Groupon posted a decrease in revenue. In a statement, the company acknowledged "a material weakness in its internal controls. " Groupon elaborated on these shortcomings in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, saying that its financial procedures were insufficient for supporting "accurate and timely" reporting of its results.

Daily Deals site Groupon is trying to take the pain out of booking appointments with the launch of Scheduler, an online scheduling tool for small businesses. With Scheduler, which officially launched Monday in beta form, bargain hunters can buy coupons -- say for a manicure, cooking class or haircut -- and then book an appointment for that service through their Groupon account. The tool is free for all small appointment-based merchants in the U.S. and Canada. “Effectively managing appointments and staffing schedules is critical for small businesses, but it takes a tremendous amount of time and energy,” said David Katz, general manager of Scheduler for Groupon.

Groupon Inc. reported quarterly earnings as a publicly traded company for the first time on Wednesday, posting a net loss of $42.7 million for the fourth quarter of 2011, narrower than a net loss of $378.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2010. The Chicago-based daily deals company said revenue totaled $506.5 million in the fourth quarter, nearly triple revenue of $172.2 million in the year-earlier period. Gross billings, which represents the total amount Groupon collects before paying merchants their share of deal proceeds, tripled to $1.25 billion from $415.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2010.

Put gay and Groupon together and what do you get? Gaypon, of course. It's one of the many online coupon companies trying to attract a niche audience. Gaypon, which launched last year in the Detroit area and is seeking to add more national and regional deals, basically operates in the manner of Groupon -- it offers pre-bought, limited-time deals on various goods and services. But the company only sells coupons from entrepreneurs and firms known to be gay/lesbian-friendly.

Groupon Getaways has a deal for travelers in Los Angeles and San Francisco who are bound for Chicago: $39 will get you $100 toward round-trip airfare and free in-flight Wi-Fi on Virgin America . The deal is good only for travel to and from the Windy City by the end of March. Here's how it works: Once you pay $39 via the Groupon sale page, you apply $100 to a single round-trip airfare from L.A. or San Francisco to Chicago -- a savings of $61. The ticket must be purchased from Virgin America at least three days prior to travel by 9:59 p.m. PST Feb. 29; travel must be completed by March 31. Take a minute to read the terms and conditions of the deal on Groupon before you make a purchase.

More than half of businesses that have used a daily deal site such as Groupon or LivingSocial in the past say they won't be doing the same in the next six months, according to a new survey. Even though 80% of companies said they were satisfied with their experiences using the discount promotion services, 52% said they'll hold off on repeat partnerships for the first half of 2012, according to data from Susquehanna Financial Group and daily deal aggregator Yipit. Less than three-quarters said they'd offer even one such deal.