Amazon has shown no fear when it comes to buying into businesses it wants to be a part of. Given the company has cash reserves nearing $6 billion dollars and a burning desire to stay ahead of the competition, it makes sense that they’d be willing to send money out to pursue more money. First, Amazon picked up discount retailer Woot for a song; now, Jeff Bezos and Amazon have invested $175 million dollars into social media coupon site LivingSocial.
This is only a few days after Google’s attempt to buy Groupon was announced. While Amazon isn’t quite cash-flush enough to buy LivingSocial outright, buying into the business early is a great idea, as the local coupons online business will only grow over time. LivingSocial is expected to pass $500 million in profits sometime next year, which means Amazon is in a great position to capture a piece of the lucrative local advertising/social media coupon industry.
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