Did Google Really Buy Groupon for 2.5 Billion?

The technology news on the internet today is abuzz with rumors of Google buying Groupon for 2.5 billion dollars. All the stories are quoting the same single site – vator.tv – which in turn is citing an ‘unnamed source’ but the story is gathering steam today.

Faith Merino of Vator.tv alleges.

Google has just purchased Groupon for $2.5 billion, according to an unnamed insider who spoke with VatorNews. Neither Google nor Groupon could be reached for comment to confirm the report, but Vator’s source is reliable and the report falls in line with the recent string of Groupon acquisition rumors

I checked the 2 big sites that claim to do fact-based reporting – Mashable.com and TechCrunch.com.

Mashable.com originally posted the rumor as if it were true, then quickly updated the post saying

Update: Google has gotten back to us, saying, “Unfortunately, we don’t comment on rumor or speculation.”

Techcrunch.com has nothing on this as of 11:35 AM Pacific time.

Deal A Day on Local Businesses And Services - At Groupon.com

We’ll see how this all shakes out. If indeed the story is true and the deal goes through, then depending on whose revenue estimates you go with – 30 million a month according to techcrunch or 50 million a month according to All Things D – I think it will take Google atleast between 3 to 5 years to break even on the deal assuming a linear growth and also assuming that something else doesn’t come in and disrupt this seemingly simple deal-a-day idea.

Here is a Techcrunch.com interview of Groupon CEO Andrew Mason – On Google, Clones, And Other Things That Don’t Worry Him.