Groupon Strikes Back, Breaks Even, Plans to Sell 30M Shares - Groupon (NASDAQ:GRPN)

The daily deals leader is turning out to be one lean, mean, fighting machine.

Though it wasn't too long ago that Groupon CEO and co-founder Andrew Mason

for writing an

that leaked online, it all seems like a distant memory now. Over the past few months, Groupon has been kicking some serious butt,

raising revenue 13%

in August while most of its competitors began to decline. Analysts

weighed in

, and before we knew it, Groupon was

back in the game

with an IPO slated to launch before the end of the year. Earlier this morning, CNBC reported that Groupon could begin trading as soon as November 4. Now

TechCrunch

is reporting that the company plans to sell 30 million shares at $16 to $18 per share. Meanwhile,

Business Insider

says that the company broke even in the third quarter. Here are a few highlights,

direct from Groupon

“We increased our revenue from $1.2 million in the second quarter of 2009 to $430.2 million in the third quarter of 2011.”
“We generated these revenues from gross billings of $3.3 million for the second quarter of 2009 as compared to gross billings of $1,157.2 million for the third quarter of 2011.”
“We had net income of $21,000 for the second quarter of 2009 as compared to a net loss of $10.6 million for the third quarter of 2011.”

The company also noted that it expanded from five North American markets as of June 30, 2009 to 175 North American markets and 45 countries as of September 30, 2011.

“Revenue from our international and North American operations was $161.5 million and $268.7 million, respectively, in the third quarter of 2011.”
“We increased our subscriber base from 152,203 as of June 30, 2009 to 142.9 million as of September 30, 2011.”
“A total of 43,014 customers purchased Groupons through the end of the second quarter of 2009 as compared to 29.5 million through the end of the third quarter of 2011, including 16.0 million customers who have purchased more than one Groupon since January 1, 2009.”

Groupon also said that it increased the number of merchants featured in its marketplace from 212 in the second quarter of 2009 to 78,649 in the third quarter of 2011.

“We sold 116,231 Groupons in the second quarter of 2009 compared to 33.0 million Groupons in the third quarter of 2011.”
“We grew from 37 employees as of June 30, 2009 to 10,418 employees as of September 30, 2011.”

previously reported

, Groupon has applied to list its Class A common stock on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol “GRPN.”

Follow me @LouisBedigianFull Disclosure:

Benzinga is

partially funded

by Lightbank, the technology investment vehicle started by Groupon co-founders Brad Keywell and Eric Lefkofsky.

Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs