(Crain's) — Looks like Groupon Inc. is again too popular for its own good.
Groupon launched its second nationwide deal with a major clothing retailer Friday — a half off special at Nordstrom Rack — that is causing problems with the site.
An unrelated plug from Oprah Winfrey only added to the traffic.
Meanwhile, Chicago-based Groupon is attracting a different kind of attention from Web giant Google Inc., according to a report by Wall Street Journal's All Things Digital blog, which reported that Google is interested in buying the Chicago-based startup.
Groupon's site was overwhelmed early Friday, and visitors encountered this message: “We are experiencing unusually high volume on our site right now. Please check back later."
A spokeswoman says the site recovered by early afternoon.
Usually, Groupon offers a single discount each day with a local merchant tailored for each of its more than 100 U.S. cities. But as it looks for new sources of growth, Groupon has dabbled in national deals.
The first, in August, featured clothing retailer Gap Inc. It attracted nearly 500,000 people and swamped the company's servers. The same thing is happening Friday with its deal with Nordstrom Rack. Both deals offered $50 worth of merchandise for $25.
Though frustrating, the flood of interest is good for Groupon. The Gap deal brought in about $11 million in a single day.
Last week, Business Insider reported Web portal Yahoo Inc. offered to buy Groupon for $3 billion to $4 billion.
The company founded two years ago by Andrew Mason has exploded as the idea of daily online deals caught fire. Like Facebook, the dominant social-networking site, Groupon has been the target of endless speculation about an initial public offering or buyout by one of the Internet giants, such as Google, Microsoft, Amazon or eBay.
Chicago entrepreneurs Eric Lefkofsky and Brad Keywell, along with Mr. Mason, own the majority of the company.
A year ago, Groupon attracted major money from Silicon Valley venture fund Accel Partners, valuing the company at $250 million. By April, after Russian venture fund DST Ventures paid $135 million to buy a chunk of insiders' stock, Groupon's valuation soared to $1.3 billion.
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