RetailMeNot traded under the ticker SALE, and it earned that name. The Austin company ran the largest digital coupon websites in the United States. Shoppers looked up a store, copied a code and saved money at checkout. Retailers paid RetailMeNot a commission on the sale. In 2012 its sites drew about 450 million visits, and more than 10,000 retailers paid to be on them. It went public in July 2013.

WhaleShark Buys a Brand

Cotter Cunningham founded the company as WhaleShark Media, entered the coupon business in 2009 and set out to buy coupon sites. In 2010 it acquired RetailMeNot.com, a site that let anyone post and rate coupon codes. It bought others too, including VoucherCodes.co.uk in Britain and sites in France, Germany and the Netherlands. In 2013 the company renamed itself after its best-known brand. Over 90 percent of its 2012 traffic came from unpaid sources, such as search results.

Thirty-Two Percent, Then a Sale

RetailMeNot sold 9.1 million shares at $21 on July 18, 2013. The stock began trading on Nasdaq the next day as SALE and gained about 32 percent on its first day. Growth slowed, and the stock drifted far below its offer price. In April 2017 Harland Clarke agreed to buy the company for $11.60 a share in cash, about $630 million, and folded it into its Valassis coupon business. Cunningham stayed on as chief executive.

Cover: Two Swiss Peasants Bargaining, Marquand Fidel Dominikus Wocher. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for two peasants haggling (a bargain).