Groupon to Go Public By the End of 2011?

The New York Times DealBook blog is reporting that Groupon has new institutional investors and could go public by the end of next year.

Fidelity Investments, T. Rowe Price, and Morgan Stanley are “negotiating financing commitments” the blog says, with the possibility that financing could total $950 million. Google offered the social commerce site $6 billion, but was rejected. According to the story, analysts have predicted that Groupon would gather a round of financing and then execute the IPO.

The company recently hired a CFO, Jason Child, former VP of finance for international business at Amazon.com, another sign the company is preparing to go public, the story reads.

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