Travel Gives LivingSocial a Q1 Glow

By Compete: Group buying and daily deal sites seem to be losing their shine – witness the recent layoffs at Buywithme.com (which has recently merged with Gilt Groupe) and the

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc's first quarterly net loss in more than five years on Thursday highlights the trials of LivingSocial, Groupon Inc's closest rival in the daily deal industry. Amazon said its third-quarter net loss was $274 million, or 60 cents a share. The world's largest Internet retailer said $169 million of those losses were driven by an impairment charge from Amazon's 29 percent stake in LivingSocial. Amazon invested $175 million in LivingSocial in late 2010, at the height of the daily deal frenzy when sector leader Groupon was growing at record speed. ...

Nathan Barton submits:I'm compelled at my initial findings on this idea and wanted to share. As many of you know, there is a phenomenon known as Groupon that has been sweeping the nation and is now moving into other countries as well. For those unfamiliar, what Groupon does is negotiate one really great deal in your city each day at a huge discount (normally 30-90% off) and send it to you in a nice morning e-mail. These deals may be for local restaurants, spas, or fun activities.

As we enter the most deal-crazed time of year, daily deals sites such as Groupon and LivingSocial try to adapt to the changing marketplace — while facing the possibility that the original coupon model may one day soon be viewed as an odd, short-lived fad. The backlash against the once ultra-hot daily deal market began in force last year, with consumers and businesses both citing “Groupon remorse”—the catchphrase for the feeling that, in retrospect, the decision to purchase (or run) a daily deal was unwise. One year after Groupon’s IPO, its stock price is down more than 80%.

By John Helzer:Below I have plotted the World Wide Semiconductor Billings(data from SIA) vs. the S&P 500. As one would expect they correlate fairly well.The arrows are the Economic Cycle Research Institute' public announcements on the business cycle's turning points.

PrivCo, a research firm that tracks private companies, reported yesterday that daily-deals company LivingSocial had taken an "emergency" round of debt from current investors.

Some good news for the embattled daily-deals sector.