Groupon cutting 1,100 jobs, shutting down operations in 7 countries

SAN FRANCISCO — Groupon is laying off 1,100 people — about 10% of its workforce — and is shutting down operations in seven countries, a sharp reversal of fortune for the technology up-and-comer that at its height rebuffed a multibillion-dollar buyout offer from Google to pursue its own path as a publicly traded company.

That path has become rocky in recent years, culminating in an ongoing turnaround effort.

Rich Williams, the company's chief operating officer, made the announcement about the job cuts and international closures in a blog post  Tuesday.

Jobs will be eliminated in customer service and international sales as Groupon attempts to engineer its "next chapter," Williams said.

Struggling with slowing growth, Groupon is restructuring operations outside of the United States. It's shuttering overseas operations in Morocco, Panama, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Taiwan, Thailand and Uruguay.

Last month, Groupon shut down in Greece and Turkey. In April, Groupon said it would sell a controlling stake in its South Korean business, mobile-commerce company Ticket Monster, for $360 million as part of its turnaround effort.

Groupon, like many tech companies with a big overseas presence, has been hammered by the strong dollar. Markets outside North America generated about 43% of Groupon's revenue in 2014.

"We've ... taken a close, honest look at where we do business. We saw that the investment required to bring our technology, tools and marketplace to every one of our 40+ countries isn’t commensurate with the return at this point," Williams wrote. "We believe that in order for our geographic footprint to be an even bigger advantage, we need to focus our energy and dollars on fewer countries."

Groupon had about 11,800 employees around the globe at the end of December. It expects to complete the job cuts by September 2016.

It says the job cuts will result in pretax charges of up to $35 million.

Groupon, which got its start as a daily deals website for products and services, went public in November 2011 to much fanfare in what at the time was the largest initial public offering by a U.S. Internet company since Google.

Shares have plummeted nearly 80% since then, about 50% this year alone.

Follow USA TODAY senior technology reporter Jessica Guynn @jguynn.