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After weeks of talks about a possible $6 billion buyout, Groupon, an e-commerce website that specializes in daily deals, decided to remain an independent company and decline Google’s possible acquisition for what would have been Google’s biggest sale to date.

For those who have been living under a rock, Groupon – from a combination of the words “group” and “coupon” – offers e-subscribed daily deals to their local attractions, restaurants, and retail shops. Groupon collaborates with local businesses and pockets one-half of the profits from each coupon sold. To ensure a substantial profit for every interaction, Groupon has set up the site to only honor purchases if a minimum number of coupons are sold; refunding buyers if the minimum is not reached for a particular offer.

According to the Aug. 30, 2010 edition of Forbes, Groupon is the fastest growing company ever.  Groupon obtained users through word of mouth and advertising on social media. However, Groupon isn’t the only daily deal website. Their competitors include DailyDeals, Facebook’s deals, Restaurant.com, and the newly surfaced Yollar, which recently collaborated with KMOV.com for local St. Louis deals.

Why did Google approach Groupon? Google aspires to develop an exclusive e-commerce market. With Groupon’s unique network of partner businesses, Google would advance their local network with ease, and increase their revenue in social media advertising in order to build a barricade against their competition.

What does this mean for Groupon? Much like Facebook, Groupon decided to remain independent hoping to identify with its many small business partners. There are many possible outcomes with this latest announcement. Groupon has the potential to enlarge its market connections and eventually sell for a much larger sum. However, there is the very real potential that Groupon could fade with time as another passing fad.

What does this mean for your business? Of course it depends on your particular business or service, but Groupon is a fantastic tool for larger restaurants and retailers to increase brand awareness. Since consumers voluntarily enrolled in the list-serve, its e-mails are much more effective in reaching target audiences than typical SPAM. But it’s always important to create an effective messaging and a compelling offer in order to convince the reader to buy in.

For consumers, my advice is to wait until any couponing website receives a decent amount of media and user attention before entering any personal information. Spend some time researching the site to see how other people are reacting to it. Once a site receives enough consumer and media attention, go for it and enjoy the deals!

Without the acquisition, I wonder what the future will be for Groupon. Will they exceed their value and become the next Facebook or will they reach a peak and lose momentum?

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