[ChuckMcM]

This had to be sort of expected. Groupon has grown fast and they turned down the acquisition offer from Google. This suggests that they were messaging new employees "We're taking this one all the way to IPO." And then proceed to ply new employees with stock and spreadsheets showing great returns. Many people at a 'startup' understand that they are sacrificing a bit of pay or benefits now, for a potentially much larger upside later. And Groupon certainly fit the mold.

Now Groupon pulls back on their IPO plans, folks who had been "taking one for the company" feel cheated because they have a harder time imagining huge returns than they did before. (On a related note I've had this issue with calling options and stock 'compensation' in the past because really until someone buys your paper it really isn't something you can spend) So the sales folks turn around and say well if we're not going to get that money we foolishly believed would be dripping out of the IPO spigot, they're going to ask for it in cash.

I really wonder if they would have crossed this threshold (suing) if the 'big cheeses' in the company hadn't decided to do a huge funding round to pay themselves off. (another way to convert 'potential' in earnings into cash).