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January 15, 2012 6:48 PM

Groupon: The next Amazon or another Myspace?

By
60 Minutes Overtime Staff
Topics
Correspondent Candids

They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. But for Groupon, the online daily deals site, imitation may also be a startup killer. With an easily replicated business model and Google breathing down its neck, can Groupon survive?

Lesley Stahl and her producer Shachar Bar-On cover the "tech beat" at "60 Minutes." After high-profile interviews with founders of Facebook and Microsoft, this week Stahl and Bar-On turn to Groupon founder Andrew Mason. What they found was a man with an enormous target on his back.

Imitators, including the all-powerful Google, are threatening to eat away at Groupon's territory. It wasn't long ago that Groupon was fielding a $6 billion buyout offer from Google (Mason declined!) and now, Google is said to be ramping up efforts to take over the daily deal space on its own.

Groupon grew from a simple idea to a $15 billion company in just three years. Will it last? Was Mason crazy to say no to Google? What do you think?

Watch: 60 Minutes Overtime, 01.15.12
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