If you were raised to never pay full price for anything, Groupon is your dream come true.

l’ll accept discounted spa visits any day, but just because it’s cheap doesn’t mean its worth buying. We’ve noticed a lot of unusual Groupon offerings lately.

Another one bites the dust at Groupon. This time, it’s the COO — who’s heading back to Google after just five months. “We were unable to make it work with Margo, but hiring isn’t easy,” CEO Andrew Mason told employees. Is anyone a good fit there?

Andrew Mason is ticked off. So says Forbes, at least, which reported that the online deals CEO has been so disappointed with Groupon’s performance in China that he flew out there himself and cleared house. Here’s Forbes’ version of events:

CEO Andrew Mason just arrived in China and hasn’t wasted time shaking things up. Four expatriate executives at Groupon who were recruited from rival site Ftuan just a few months ago will be leaving Groupon China.

Of course, that’s one just report. In fact, according to SeekingAlpha, the firings may have never occurred.

Groupon has a new deal available! For just some tens of billions of dollars, you can have a public company! That’s right: The superstar online deals giant is finally ready to IPO.

The company formally took the first official step today indicating that they’ll be going public at some point, by filing with the SEC. There’s no definite word yet on how much money they’ll raise or when exactly shares will hit the stock exchange, but you can bet that it’s probably happening soon-ish. The Wall Street Journal estimates they’ll try to raise $1 billion in the IPO, which would value the company at a monstrous $20 billion.

It feels like every time you open your Internet browser or Twitter feed, another Internet giant has announced they’re entering the online deals space. From Zuckerberg to Page to Case, there’s been a weeks- and months-long boom in deals – and I believe it’s because tech industry scions, who want a hand in everything, are pushing the effort.

Are the leaders of Silicon Valley’s biggest and baddest trying to play catch up with runaway startup hits like Gilt Groupe and Groupon? Yes — definitely.

Let’s look at a few examples.