• Vator News, Monday, November 29, 2010 12:24 PM

With huge implications for the future of ecommerce and Google itself, the search giant is rumored to have acquired Groupon for $2.5 billion.

Vator News has confirmation from a single unnamed source, but provides no additional information or insight into the deal -- only saying that its report "falls in line with the recent string of Groupon acquisition rumors."

"Whether or not this story plays out, my first thought was that the company is worth far more than $2.5 billion," writes Federated Media founder and Searchblog author John Battelle. "If, as many have reported, Groupon is doing $50mm in revenue a month, that's a mere 4.2x multiple on current run rate." What's more, "Location is a key signal connecting commerce, search, social, and small business," Battelle adds. "It's a big, big deal, and Groupon is the leader in the space."

BoomTown -- which first reported the acquisition talks earlier this month -- assures that Groupon will cost Google much more than any purpose price. Along with a price that's likely to exceed $3 billion, it writes, Google will have to expend significant resources fending off antitrust concerns.

Still, "Having Groupon in its arsenal would garner Google even more powerful pricing information from both customers and merchants across the globe," writes BoomTown. No doubt, "Owning the hot space around local purchasing and consumer information, combined with the social element, would be a tasty treat."

Indeed, "The acquisition, if true, makes a lot of sense for Google, giving it a wonderful opportunity to fuse Groupon deals with its local business directory, Google Places," reasons Mashable. "On the other hand, for Groupon it'll be much easier to fend off all those similar services under Google's wing."

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