Yahoo's 'Local Offers' Aggregates Biggest Daily Deal Services

Yahoo today launched a beta version of a daily deals channel called "Local Offers," which will give further distribution to most of the niche's biggest names. All told, those partners include Groupon, LivingSocial, Gilt City, BloomSpot, BuyWithMe, DealOn, Zozi, CrowdSavings, Lifebooker, FreshGuide, Scoop St, Goldstar, HomeRun, Tippr, Coupons.com, and Valpak.

"It's a revenue share model that is mutually beneficial," a Yahoo spokesperson explained via e-mail. "We're testing in various areas of the home page, and you can imagine these offers appearing in other areas across Yahoo" such as Mail.

The move to aggregate deals from various platforms seems to throw cold water on a recent rumor that Yahoo may buy Groupon. By amassing such services, the Sunnyvale, CA-based Internet giant would avoid the huge cost of buying Groupon or launching its own competitor.

Yahoo joins Yelp, Facebook and White Pages as companies that have recently delved into the daily deals game.