The results are disappointing to analysts, but surprisingly good to me. I read this as "Groupon cuts marketing expense by 25%, manages to triple revenue (YOY) this quarter." They are in MUCH better shape than LivingSocial (lost $558mil on revenues of $245mil in 2011 http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/livingsocial-...)

Groupon had $507 million in revenues this QUARTER, and lost $43 million. My guess is that if they wanted to lower expenses with their current model, they could cut the writing staff pretty significantly. From talking to friends there, at the moment the writers write 5 deals per day... They could easily do some huffpo style shit and cut that staff in half. They also are planning to get in deeper with their merchants... remains to be seen how it goes, but will be interesting.

(edited to add YOY - thanks for the correction vladd)