Swimming in cash: Groupon’s $750M IPO by the numbers

Group-buying site Groupon just filed for an initial public offering and is looking to raise up to $750 million. The company has submitting its S-1 filing to the Securities and Exchange commission.

Groupon is the second high-profile Web 2.0 company to file to go public this year. Business social network LinkedIn also recently made its debut on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), soaring to a valuation of nearly $9 billion during its first day of trading before backpedaling to a more reasonable $79 share price. LinkedIn currently has a market cap of around $7.5 billion.

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The site lets users purchase deals for local merchants that usually come at very steep discounts — which can range anywhere from 30 percent to 80 percent. The deals can range from food, trips on a boat and cheaper drinks at a local bar. Groupon also sends out daily email alerts to its subscribers about now local deals.

Here’s a breakdown of some of the highlights that appear in Groupon’s S-1 filing:

Revenue: Groupon brought in $94,000 in revenue in 2008, $30.5 million in 2009 and $713.4 million in 2010. The company brought in $644.7 million in the first quarter this year ending March 1, up from $44.2 million in the first quarter last year.

Marketing Costs: Marketing costs make up roughly a third of the company’s total costs. The company spent $263.2 million on marketing in 2010 and $208.2 million in the first quarter this year.

Selling, General and Administrative Costs: The company has enormous administrative costs that make up roughly a third of its operating expenses. Groupon spent $233.9 million on administrative costs in 2010, up from $7.5 million in 2009 and $1.5 million in 2008. The company has spent $178.9 million on administrative costs in the first quarter this year, compared to $4 million in the first quarter last year. It currently has 661 employees in North America and 2,895 international employees.

Profit: Groupon has consistently lost money each quarter except for one — the first quarter of 2010, when it brought in an $8 million profit. Groupon lost $456.3 million in 2010 and $6.9 million in 2009. The company lost $146.5 million in the first quarter this year.

Subscribers: Groupon has 83 million subscribers as of the end of the first quarter this year ending March 1. That’s up from 5o.6 million subscribers at the end of 2010 and 1.8 million subscribers at the end of 2009. Of those 83 million subscribers, 15.8 million actually purchased groupons in the first quarter this year — up from 9 million customers in 2010 and 375,099 customers in 2009.

Groupons: The company sold 28.1 million groupons in the first quarter this year ending March 1, up from 1.8 million groupons in the same quarter last year. It sold 30.3 million groupons in 2010 and 1.3 million groupons in 2009. Groupon had 56,781 features merchants in the first quarter this year, compared to 2,903 featured merchants in the first quarter last year.

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International Revenue: Revenue from countries other than the United States now accounts for 53.8 percent of Groupon’s total revenue as of the first quarter this year, up from 37.2 percent in 2010.