Groupon’s results again fell short of Wall Street’s already-cautious expectations, sending its shares to a record low.
Groupon also confirmed yesterday that it cut about 80 employees, mainly in sales, as part of an effort to automate and streamline the way its daily deals are sourced and distributed.
The company’s shares slid to a record low of $3.25 in after-hours trading, down 17 percent from their closing price of $3.92.
The darling of investors during last year’s consumer dotcom initial public offering boom, Groupon has now shed four-fifths of its value since its public trading debut.
Wall Street has grown increasingly uneasy about the viability of its business as daily deals fever wanes among consumers and merchants, and as previously strong growth rates sputter.
Groupon’s third-quarter revenue was $568.6 million, compared with $430.2 million in the year-ago period. Analysts were expecting revenue of $590 million.
It posted a quarterly net loss of $3 million, or zero cents per common share, compared with a net loss of $54.2 million, or 18 cents a share, in the third quarter of 2011.