2011《財富》最愚蠢商業事件大盤點（上）

Groupon上市申報文件營收注水

????團購網站Groupon的財務增長令人瞠目結舌，但公司的IPO文件使公眾得以首次一窺其中究竟：Groupon在8月份提交的文件中稱其2011年上半年的營收為15億美元，要知道，三年前這個數字才僅僅只有94,000美元。

????然而事后才發現這竟然是一場鬧劇——Groupon對于“營收”的定義過于寬松。如果Groupon出售10美元的優惠券，一般需要將其中的5美元支付給商家——但Groupon之前卻一直將這10美元全部計入公司自己的營收。美國證監會（SEC）直接駁回了Groupon的申請，并告誡Groupon這種做法違規。

????9月份，Groupon提交了“更正錯誤”后的修訂文件。所謂的錯誤也就是說，將出售優惠券的收入中應該返還給商家的現金全部計入了自己的營收。

????修訂后的文件使Groupon在2011年上半年的銷售額遭遇腰斬，僅有6.88億美元。而Groupon同期的凈虧損為2.55億美元?！炖?波比頓

Groupon's $835 million accounting oopsie

????Groupon's IPO paperwork offered the first public glimpse into the financials of a company eye-popping growth: In an August filing, Groupon reported its revenue for the first six months of 2011 at $1.5 billion, up from a grand total of $94,000 just three years earlier.

????Turns out Groupon was being extremely generous in its definition of "revenue." If Groupon sells a coupon for $10, it would typically pass $5 of that on to the merchant -- but Groupon had previously been reporting all $10 as its own revenue. The SEC smacked Groupon and called that a no-no.

????In September, Groupon submitted a revised filing to "correct for an error" -- namely, including in its revenue the cash it has to hand back to merchants for their share of the coupons Groupon sells.

????The restatement effectively whacked Groupon's sales in half, knocking them down to $688 million for the first half of 2011. Groupon's net loss for the period: $255 million. -- Julianne Pepitone