Groupon Q3 2026 Earnings: Billings Rise 6% Amid AI Efficiency and Travel Growth

Groupon Inc reported a 6% increase in third-quarter billings to $439 million on Tuesday landing near the top end of its guidance range while acknowledging that revenue and adjusted EBITDA both fell below expectations.

Chief Executive Officer Dušan Šenkypl and Chief Financial Officer Rana Kashyap outlined the company’s financial standing during an earnings conference call, pointing to strong growth in travel and local experiences alongside headwinds from marketing inefficiencies and strict quality investments.

Revenue grew 2% year-over-year to $125 million, held back by a mix shift toward Things to Do and Travel categories as well as deliberate trust initiatives. Adjusted EBITDA settled at $15 million, missing management targets due to the revenue shortfall and higher-than-expected marketing expenditures that failed to yield anticipated returns.

Free cash flow dipped to negative $46 million, which executives described as a normal seasonal cash low point for the business. Groupon ended the third quarter with $177 million in cash and cash equivalents.

Billings growth was driven largely by a 36% jump in Travel billings and double-digit gains in Things to Do across both North America and international markets. The latter category marked its sixth double-digit growth quarter in the last eight periods.

At the same time, trust and quality investments reduced overall billings growth by 180 basis points as the company honored a higher volume of customer refund requests. Šenkypl said that the majority of those refunds were issued through Groupon Bucks.

“The decision was Groupon’s own, aimed at making the marketplace a trusted place to shop, said Dušan Šenkypl, CEO, Groupon.”

On the earnings call, executives discussed higher marketing spend with lower-than-expected returns.

Through these initiatives, AI resolved 84% of customer support contacts in the third quarter, up from 42% in January and climbing above 90% in early November. Additionally, engineering output per developer more than doubled in the first half of the year, and revenue per employee increased approximately 50% year-over-year.

“CEO Dusan Senkypl said the narrative has shifted from chatbot-style AI to personal agents such as Instinct, Muse and Grok Bot, which will change how customers purchase online over time.”

Capital return efforts continued through share repurchases. Groupon bought back 677,561 shares for $11.3 million following its previous earnings release, bringing its total repurchases in 2026 to approximately 3.5 million shares for $43 million, which accounts for 8.5% of the shares outstanding at the start of the year.