Groupon, the company that pioneered online group discounts, has begun trading as a public company.
The stock jumped nearly 50% in the opening minutes Friday.
The surge shows there’s insatiable demand for an internet company whose business model is still considered unsustainable by some outsiders.
Chicago-based Groupon sends out frequent e-mails to subscribers offering a chance to buy discount deals for anything from laser hair removal to weekend getaways. The company then takes a cut of what people pay and gives the rest to the merchant.
On Thursday, the company priced its IPO at $20 per share. That was above its expected range of $16 to $18. It gave Groupon a market value of $12.7 billion, above only Google’s among tech companies.
