Google strengthens Offers with acquisition of German DailyDeal

By Jeff Hughes Published September 19, 2011

Along with its unofficial Wallet launch, Google has recently acquired German Groupon competitor DailyDeal. The purchase will most likely add to the girth of Google’s own Groupon counterpart, Google Offers.

Launched in December 2009 and founded by two brothers, the German deals service operates in Austria, Switzerland and of course Germany—the company also had plans to expand into Scandinavia Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. DailyDeal says in the first quarter of 2011 it sold roughly 250,000 coupons and predicts it will make 30 to 40 million Euros by the end of the year. DailyDeals confirmed on its website it would be working with the Offers team.

Recommended Videos

In a statement, Google said, “As more and more people go online to find the latest, most relevant deals, we’re exploring new ways to help consumers get the best local deals out there. The DailyDeal team has an incredible track record in this space, and we look forward to working with them.”

Google must have high hopes for DailyDeals. According to the German newspaper FAZ (via Business Insider), the purchase price Google agreed upon was somewhere between $150 million and $200 million. Quite a nice sum to walk away with for a company less than two years old.

Earlier this month Google acquired the long-running location rating service Zagat, to bolster what was lost with the Yelp drop. Zagat may have been a move to improve Offers. Google also purchased the Dealmap in early August in order to help in the chase after Groupon.

Google Offers was launched earlier this year in June and is in beta right now. The service is currently live in New York City, Portland, San Francisco, Austin, Washington D.C., Denver, Boston, and Seattle. TNW believes the new purchase of the European DailyDeal reveals Google’s plan to branch out into Europe.

Topics

Google

Former Digital Trends Contributor

I'm a SF Bay Area-based writer/ninja that loves anything geek, tech, comic, social media or gaming-related.

Computing

How to change margins in Google Docs

Laptop Working from Home

When you create a document in Google Docs, you may need to adjust the space between the edge of the page and the content --- the margins. For instance, many professors have requirements for the margin sizes you must use for college papers.

You can easily change the left, right, top, and bottom margins in Google Docs and have a few different ways to do it.

Computing

What is Microsoft Teams? How to use the collaboration app

A close-up of someone using Microsoft Teams on a laptop for a videoconference.

Online team collaboration is the new norm as companies spread their workforce across the globe. Gone are the days of primarily relying on group emails, as teams can now work together in real time using an instant chat-style interface, no matter where they are.

Using Microsoft Teams affords video conferencing, real-time discussions, document sharing and editing, and more for companies and corporations. It's one of many collaboration tools designed to bring company workers together in an online space. It’s not designed for communicating with family and friends, but for colleagues and clients.

Computing

Microsoft Word vs. Google Docs

A person using a laptop that displays various Microsoft Office apps.

For the last few decades, Microsoft Word has been the de facto standard for word processors across the working world. That's finally starting to shift, and it looks like one of Google's productivity apps is the heir apparent. The company's Google Docs solution (or to be specific, the integrated word processor) is cross-platform and interoperable, automatically syncs, is easily shareable, and perhaps best of all, is free.

However, using Google Docs proves it still has a long way to go before it can match all of Word's features -- Microsoft has been developing its word processor for over 30 years, after all, and millions still use Microsoft Word. Will Google Docs' low barrier to entry and cross-platform functionality win out? Let's break down each word processor in terms of features and capabilities to help you determine which is best for your needs.
How does each word processing program compare?
To put it lightly, Microsoft Word has an incredible advantage over Google Docs in terms of raw technical capability. From relatively humble beginnings in the 1980s, Microsoft has added new tools and options in each successive version. Most of the essential editing tools are available in Google Docs, but users who are used to Word will find it limited.