Groupon's (NASDAQ: GRPN) Distribution of Microsoft Products Should be Called Into Question

In the wake of a scramble to find vulnerabilities in Microsoft's distribution of SharePoint, it is critical for US law enforcement to evaluate Groupon's role in the distribution of Chinese and other foreign-backed Microsoft resellers.

Background

On June 9, 2025 I published the below piece outlining Groupon's (NASDAQ: GRPN) role in distributing resold Microsoft products through third-party vendors.

Groupon Has Become a GLP-1 Affiliate Marketing and Bootleg Microsoft Office Racket

The “turnaround” of Groupon (NASDAQ: GRPN), especially around the key North America Local segment, is one big sham. Groupon has benefitted greatly from two major trends in 2024 into early 2025, which correspond with their recent rise in their stock price from $12.00 to $32.94 year-to-date. The first

The Captain's LogLauren Balik

As of this past week, there is an ongoing large and coordinated cyberattack on US companies and government agencies and other organizations through Microsoft SharePoint Server. Microsoft has attributed the campaign to Chinese nation-state actors who have been actively exploiting these flaws since early July 2025, deploying sophisticated web shells to maintain persistent access to compromised networks.

The organizations targeted are those running their own SharePoint intranets - that is to say, not those administered by Microsoft itself as part of Microsoft's own cloud.

Media coverage of this ongoing issue can be found below and at numerous other publications.

Microsoft Says Chinese Hackers Exploiting SharePoint Flaws

Microsoft Corp. accused Chinese state-sponsored hackers of using flaws in its SharePoint document management software in a hacking campaign that has targeted businesses and government agencies around the world.

BloombergJake Bleiberg

Microsoft Hack Hits Hundreds of Firms, Agencies as Damage Spreads

The number of companies and organizations compromised by a security vulnerability in Microsoft Corp.’s SharePoint servers is increasing rapidly, with the tally of victims soaring more than six-fold in a few days, according to one research firm.

BloombergRyan Gallagher

Groupon's Microsoft and SharePoint Distribution

This ridiculous operation going on through Groupon's distribution of Microsoft products is best demonstrated visually.

On February 12, 2025 YouTube account "Janie Grace Reviews" posted the below video questioning the quality of Microsoft 365 bought through Groupon.

The video is a short watch (under 7 minutes) but here are some highlights:

-At about 2:45 on the reviewer begins going through why this Groupon advertised offering is illegal, according to her experience.

-At about 3:24 the reviewer shows how after a consumer downloads the Microsoft software the end user ends up at a Chinese SharePoint administrator which is then able to access any data saved to OneDrive or through this intranet.

Groupon is not only merely acting as a middleman marketplace, but is active in promoting these spyware SKUs in advertisements and across social media.

Based on just the publicly available data on Groupon's website and through archived pages on Groupon, it's clear that there are at least in the low hundreds of thousands of purchases of Microsoft products run through Sharepoint intranets with extremely thin corporate structures wrapped around them.

In fact, the problem is so ridiculous at Groupon that some of these vendors actually brand their own third-party websites with Groupon's name and/or seemingly exclusively use Groupon as their only distribution channel, as in the case of this LicenseTom.com partner.

License Tom alone has distributed in the tens of thousands of units on just several of their core SKUs.

Conclusion

Groupon has a market capitalization of a mere $1.36 billion as of July 23, 2025. Groupon has done little to no due diligence on these numerous Microsoft resellers that manage Sharepoint Servers and distribute access to these networks.

The prices on many of these Groupon SKUs are marked down to such incredibly low prices from Microsoft's sticker prices, and frankly the margin is poor and likely even negative in some cases. The aggregate value of these third parties in collecting data that is saved to Word, Access, PowerPoint, etc. files from US citizens and small businesses is likely multiples higher than Groupon's market capitalization. These products are cheap on purpose, and Groupon is more than happy to take their cut to boost their revenue figures and actively market and promote these products. Although the offerings on Groupon and Groupon ads and social media posts are constructed to give the consumer the idea that the consumer is buying from Microsoft's cloud, the fact is that in many cases these networks are merely these Sharepoints managed by third parties.

I believe there is significant risk in Groupon's stock and I believe that Groupon will likely come under federal investigation for their role in what is already a massive foreign nation-state espionage attack on the United States and other Western countries.

I don't know if you've been actively paying attention, but all kinds of foreign-backed disinformation campaigns, scams, espionage operations, and other fifth-generation warfare tactics targeting Americans have been getting swept by the US government the past six months, including this past week's sweep which culminated in YouTube removing nearly 11,000 channels affiliated with foreign actors trying to create social unrest and disorder here in the US.

I am short Groupon (NASDAQ: GRPN) and I believe this marketplace company is doing what is clearly little-to-zero due diligence on its software vendor offerings and there is a risk that Groupon is suspended or shut down altogether.

As advice for US consumers: maybe consider why something is so cheap off a sticker price before buying? It's probably time to sweep your computer if you've bought Microsoft products through Groupon's network of third-party sellers located who knows where in the world.

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This content is provided for informational purposes only, and should not be relied upon as legal, business, investment, or tax advice. You should consult your own advisers as to those matters. Lauren Balik does not represent the interests of any fund or of any investor other than herself. Past performance is not indicative of future results. This content speaks only as of the date published. Any projections, estimates, forecasts, targets, and/or opinions expressed in these materials are subject to change without notice and may differ or be contrary to opinions expressed by others.