Groupon Prepares for Spring 2011 IPO at a $15B Valuation [REPORT]

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Turning down a $6 billion acquisition offer from Google isn't looking like such a bad idea now.

Groupon has just come off a year of meteoric growth and a record-breaking fundraising stint that yielded a $950 million Series D from investment firms that included Morgan Stanley, Greylock Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.

Last week, founder and CEO Andrew Mason said, "We’re thrilled that Groupon has earned the confidence of some of the world’s most respected investment firms. With their support, we will continue on our mission to change the way people shop locally and serve the world’s local businesses."

Today, two sources confirmed to the New York Times that the startup was preparing for an IPO in the spring, meeting with bankers more than once this week.

A successful IPO for Groupon could signal good things for the web startup and VC world. In fact, this is just the kind of splashy exit that many VCs and VC-backed CEOs have been observing in 2010 and predicting for 2011. Still, a Groupon IPO would be a blockbuster by any standards.