[wisty]

If Groupon sacks most of its sales staff, it might do OK.

Groupon is doing an Amazon-style land grab. They want a fat book of customers (both businesses and clients - it's an open question which are the real customers). They are willing to blow a huge amount of investor capital doing this.

Some businesses will lose big doing Groupon campaigns. Groupon doesn't care, as long as a certain percent of businesses figure out how to do well with them. For now, they are willing to burn a few customers.