Groupon's Opening Rivals Google

Maybe Google can predict the future.

Groupon's highly anticipated initial public offering went live Friday morning and was being offered at $20 per share.

The debut of the daily deal site at a valuation of $12.7 billion was the highest opening tech valuation since Google went public in 2004 at $23.1 billion.

Looking at the numbers alone, may give credence to CEO Andrew Mason's decision to shun Google's overtures last year.

The Mountain View-based search giant reportedly offered upwards of $6 billion to purchase the company but Groupon was not interested.

It could be that Mason saw that his company was more valuable than what Google was offering -- as indicated by Friday's valuation.

But it could be that Google really can see the future and sees what several other analysts see: Groupon is its own bubble.

As successful as Groupon's opening day number looks, there are plenty out there who doubt the valuation and the long term success of the company.

There are several factors that have turned some analysts into skeptics, namely the company's less than impressive numbers and several rival companies that have entered Groupon's arena, including Google.

Also of the latest 25 IPOs over the past two years, 20 have tanked.

And to quote the infamous words of Steve Jobs to Dropbox's CEO after he pushed away Apple's overtures: you're "a feature, not a product."

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