Google buys German group discount service DailyDeal

Google has announced the acquisition of German group discount service DailyDeal in a bid to better compete with market leader Groupon.

A statement posted to the DailyDeal site in English and German said that the company has been purchased by Google and will look to expand its operations.

Berlin-based DailyDeal allows customers to take advantage of group bonus offers from businesses in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

"What began as a two-person start-up less than two years ago has transformed into a trusted platform to connect businesses with consumers," DailyDeal said in the announcement.

"By combining our expertise with the Offers team at Google, we hope to expand our efforts to provide even greater deals to consumers."

The move will expand Google's Offers group discount platform. The company has spent much of the year battling with rival Groupon in the growing market for group discount services.

Groupon filed for an initial public offering in June worth roughly $750m. The filing was among several in the industry at the time, leading analysts to express fears of a bubble in the social networking space.

Google made a $6bn offer for Groupon in 2010, but was spurned in favour of the IPO filing.