Groupon Offers IPO; Highest Valued Tech Company Since Google

Groupon's initial public offering is on at $20 per share, to give the Chicago daily deals site a valuation of $12.7 billion.

That's the highest tech valuation since Google went public in 2004 at a valuation of $23.1 billion, according to the San Jose Mercury News. So, can Groupon be the next tech industry giant that Google has grown to be?

Groupon, the brash and much-criticized daily-deals pioneer, did it.

Shares of the 3-year-old Internet company closed at $26.11 today on the Nasdaq, a jump of more than 31 percent from its offering price of $20. That leaves Groupon with a market valuation of about $16.7 billion, almost three times the buyout offer from Google it rejected in December, and surely enough to reignite the debate of whether Bubble 2.0 is here.