Google is very cash rich right now as a company and the stock is plenty high going into the new year. I think they will be acquiring more and more though the first quarter of 2011. They are also rolling out a bunch of new stuff Jan 1.
Actually i used that figure from the same New York Times article, the full quote was: "Groupon’s success has helped turn the company into a cash-generating machine, signing up more than 12 million registered users and reaping more than $350 million in estimated annual revenue. " http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/30/technology/30google.html But according to a Wall Street Journal report: "Groupon is on track to generate $600 million of revenue in 2010, estimates Barclays analyst Doug Anmuth, growing to perhaps $1.5 billion next year." http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704679204575647042415871282.html Of course revenue is not the same as profit.