Google Looking To Buy Groupon?

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It seems that Google is trying to take another acquisition: Groupon. All Things Digital has sources saying Google is in talks to buy the social buying website. Yahoo has attempted to do the same in the past, and Google is offering more than the reported $2-3 billion the other company offered last year.

(More on TIME.com: Facebook Launches New Mobile Tools, Location Based Deals)

Groupon works like this: Each day a deal is posted for a usually local chain in your community. It’s normally a gift certificate for a certain percentage off a service, meal or product. If enough people buy the product, the deal is on and everyone gets to enjoy the discounted price. The company has branched out recently and offered at least 50 percent off gift certificates at big names like American Apparel, The Body Shop, Gap and Nordstrom Rack. Other companies like Living Social, Twitter’s @earlybird and Yelp Deals work in a similar manner, but Groupon is one of the most successful of the bunch, pulling in $50 million dollars of revenue a month. Google might be particularly interested because Facebook started their own similar service called Facebook Deals – and well, with Facebook trying to sort of get into the e-mail game, Google might be finding another way to one-up the social media giant.

(More on TIME.com: Yelp Deals Introduced in San Francisco)

There may be other interested parties as well, however. Both Google and Groupon have not confirmed the news, but All Things Digital speculates that the only companies with enough cash to also put a bid in for Groupon would be Microsoft, Amazon and eBay.

More on TIME.com:

App of the Week: Living Social & Netflix

Why Facebook Deals is Bad News for Foursquare

Dealmap: Localized Deals Aggregator App

Is It Just Us, Or Is Twitter’s First @earlybird Deal Pretty Lame?