New Age Finance- Bubbling Back

Internet Start-Ups Find New Metrics to Look Profitable; - NYTimes.com: "Over a decade ago, Internet companies promoted new ways to measure their business performance, introducing concepts like “eyeballs” and “mindshare” to investors.

Now the latest wave of Internet start-ups are adding their own particular yardsticks to the valuation vocabulary.

Try “Acsoi” — a metric so new that there’s no agreement on how to pronounce it. Depending on whom you ask, it’s either “ack-soy” or “ack-swa.”

Short for “adjusted consolidated segment operating income,” Acsoi is one of three yardsticks that Groupon, the online coupon giant, recommends investors use to determine how it is performing. It is essentially operating profit minus the company’s large online marketing and acquisition expenses — a highly nonstandard approach that had many scratching their heads.

Yet without it, Groupon would appear steeped in red ink."