Groupon Completes Ticket Monster Acquisition

(RTTNews) - Groupon, Inc. (GRPN) said Thursday that it has completed the acquisition of Korean ecommerce company Ticket Monster for $260 million in cash and stock.

The Ticket Monster brand and leadership team will remain in place and continue to be led by Daniel Shin, CEO of Ticket Monster. The company will maintain its headquarters in Seoul, where it employs about 1,000 employees.

As announced on November 7, Groupon has acquired LivingSocial Korea, Inc., the holding company that owns Ticket Monster. LivingSocial Korea's Malaysian subsidiary was divested prior to close and is not part of this deal.

As per the terms of the agreement, the final allocation paid to LivingSocial, Inc. was $100 million in cash and $160 million in Groupon Class A common stock, subject to registration rights.

For the nine months ended September 30, 2013, LivingSocial Korea, Inc., excluding its Malaysian subsidiary, had gross billings of $572.7 million, revenue of $78.5 million and an operating loss of $38.7 million.