A look at the statement reveals that Groupon raised $1,098,200,000 across its Series F ($135 million) and Series G ($946 million) rounds, including a follow-on investment of $17.2 million from Howard Schultz and affiliates.
Altogether, $946.8 million, or roughly 86% of the funds raised across the three investments, was paid out to Groupon directors, officers and stockholders. Just $151.4 million was retained by the company to use as working capital and for general corporate purposes.
Groupon co-founder and CEO Andrew Mason was one of those cashing in his shares. He first took $17,931,440 off the table in the Series F round, and latter grabbed $10 million in the Series G round. Meanwhile, Groupon co-founder Eri c Lefkofsky’s 600 West Partners and Green Media — LLCs he co-owns with his wife — cashed in shares for a combined total of $381,904,359.
With all that cash taken off the table and so little retained for working capital, Groupon needs the $750 million it will raise in the IPO offering to continue to fuel operations. Clearly, the company is eager to file the IPO to keep its cash flow positive and to fund operations.
Here’s Who Cashed Out:
Series F
“In April 2010, we issued 4,202,658 shares of our Series F preferred stock to a group of third-party investors in exchange for $135.0 million in cash, or $32.12 per share. We retained $15.0 million of these proceeds for working capital and general corporate purposes. We used the remaining $120.0 million of these proceeds to redeem voting and non-voting common stock from our existing stockholders at a purchase price of $5.3537 per share (on a post-stock split...
