Warum kauft Groupon den Klon CityDeal? – Gründer Andrew Mason nimmt Stellung

Mit der Übernahme von CityDeal (www.citydeal.de) durch das US-Vorbild Groupon (www.groupon.com) wabert seit Sonntagabend die Meldung des Jahres durch die deutsche Gründerszene. In den vergangenen Wochen führten die beiden Unternehmen intensive Gespräche miteinander. Vor wenigen Stunden wurden die Verträge unterschieben. Seitdem geht die atemberaubende Meldung um die Welt – alle wichtigen Internet- und Technikmedien sowie diverse etablierte Medien berichten über den Megadeal. Im Unternehmensblog Groublogpon liefert Groupon-Gründer Andrew Mason Hintergründe zum Deal. Dabei beantwortet er vor allem die Frage, warum sich Groupon für CityDeal entschieden hat und nicht für einen der anderen Klone aus Deutschland bzw. Europa:

“We knew that bringing Groupon to Europe wouldn’t be easy. Just adapting Groupon to suit the differences between Miami and Philadelphia is enough of a challenge that we knew we wouldn’t be able to succeed in Europe without amazing entrepreneurs with an intimate understanding of the local cultures.

With that in mind, we started meeting with the horde of European Groupon clones, looking for a team that would do Groupon justice in Europe. Unfortunately, we found them to be very much like the American knockoffs – without the strategic vision or operational chops to do much more than watch us and play Simon Says.

When we met Oliver Samwer – one of the founders of Citydeal – we were prepared for more of the same. Oliver and his two brothers are known for elevating the practice of cloning American business models in Europe into an art form, having successfully founded the German versions of eBay (eBay eventually bought them), Facebook, eHarmony, Zappos, and many more.

But after a few days with Oliver and the rest of the Citydeal management team, we realized that they were among the best operators we’d ever met. It was no wonder they’d become #1 in every one of their countries – in only five months, they’d even become larger than the largest Groupon knockoff in the U.S. It’s absolutely insane how quickly they’ve scaled, with 600 employees working from 80+ European cities, and already saving their customers over $5 million in April alone – their fourth month of operation.

Culturally, we saw the same qualities in the Citydeal team that we have at Groupon. Hardworking and scrappy, blindingly fast executors, refreshingly blunt, no appetite for petty politics, and passionate about pioneering a new model of commerce while wowing every last consumer and merchant they touched.

For those reasons, we think Groupon and Citydeal are a great match.”

Artikel zum Thema
* Millionenschwerer Exit: Groupon schluckt deutschen Klon CityDeal
* Groupon-Fieber: CityDeal rennt DailyDeal weiter davon
* Exklusiv: 15 Millionen-Runde bei CityDeal wahrscheinlich
* Neue Finanzierungsrunde: Weitere 5 Millionen Euro für CityDeal