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Investors are placing bets on Groupon's actual profitability, and billions of dollars ride on the outcome.

Ever since it emerged from Chicago's small startup community in 2008, Groupon has had nothing short of a spectacular story in terms of its growth: With estimated annual revenues of more than $4 billion after just three years of existence, the poster child for the "group buying" phenomenon is now one of the fastest-growing companies in recent memory. But with the company now reconsidering its IPO and its security filings raising questions, whether or not Groupon's business model will ever become profitable remains an unknown.