Groupon IPO still coming this fall

Groupon’s highly anticipated IPO, which stalled amid market volatility earlier this summer, is back on track.

Sources close to the matter told The New York Times that the daily deals company’s initial public offering is now slated for late October or early November.

The company has been delaying its IPO at least since early September.

The general market downturn has doubtless played a role in the company’s IPO plans. At the start of the most recent national financial troubles, Groupon itself was already reporting heavy losses for Q2 — not exactly the thing to inspire confidence in new investors.

At the beginning of August as the U.S. credit rating was downgraded by agency Standard & Poor’s, a record number of companies delayed their IPOs, all due to concerns about rapidly dropping stock prices across the board.

At the time, we wondered whether some of the more buzzed-about tech IPOs, including Groupon, might be delayed for the same reasons. Groupon had just filed an amended S-1 form.

But later that week, some researchers stated that interest in Groupon public stock might have been waning, given the volatility of the market and the uncertain track record of tech stock and the fact that, in general, the “IPO window” seemed to be closed.

In addition to market volatility, a certain leaked document, which ruffled some feathers at the SEC, likely led to some delays. The document in question was an email sent by Groupon CEO Andrew Mason to thousands of Groupon employees defending the company’s financial health, which had been debated much by press at the time.

But since the email was sent after Groupon had filed its registration statement with the SEC, the email raised concerns about whether Mason had violated “quiet period” rules prohibiting written communications that promote company stock. Groupon had to come to a resolution with the SEC as a result.