Groupon's stock price isn't the only sign that the daily deals bubble has burst: In its third-quarter earnings report, Amazon took a writedown of $169 million, or $0.37 per share, for its stake in daily deals site LivingSocial. The online retail behemoth made a $175 million investment in the Groupon rival a little less than two years ago.
Net sales were up 27% to $13.81 billion in the third quarter. Despite that growth, Amazon reported its first quarterly net loss in four years -- $274 million, or $0.60 per share, for the quarter, compared to a positive net income of $63 million in the same period a year ago. Analysts were expecting $13.9 billion in sales and a loss of $0.08 per share.
Fourth quarter guidance also came in lower. The company expects to generate around $21.5 billion in sales between Sept. 30 and the end of the year, about $1.3 billion below analysts' forecasts.
Shares of Amazon were trading down about 1% to $220 in after hours.