Glenn Beck, the radio and television personality perhaps best known for his seemingly endless string of conspiracy theories, has gotten into a completely new line of business with a daily deal site intended to take on Groupon, LivingSocial and others.
Markdown.com is the latest venture from Mr. Beck and his company Mercury Radio Arts. The company launched its very first deal with $20 worth of chocolate on Chocolate.com for $10. Another deal from LifeLock, an online personal security service and long-time sponsor of Mr. Beck, is planned for later this week.
"Markdown is a way for people to connect with companies and products that respect their values, and respect their hard-earned dollars," Mr. Beck said in a video to introduce the service, which sports the tagline "Value and Values.”
"If we want to save our country, we have to save ourselves, which means we have to align ourselves with things that are true, and I think we have an opportunity to save people money and unite with each other and create something new, with real value, to help," he said.
Chris Balfe, president and chief executive of Mercury, told Business Insider that the company has been looking at getting into an e-commerce venture "for a really long time" and that the success of other daily deal sites "emboldened us to take faster action."
Keith Ferry, president of Markdown.com, said the site is not looking to be a clone of Groupon or other daily dealers. As an example, the site would not be pushing local deals choosing to focus on national promotions.
Mr. Ferry told Business Insider, that the site would focus on "curating deals and products with our audience in mind... What will our audience like?"
While Mr. Beck has a built-in audience for his new venture, he also brings some baggage. Some of his positions have been highly-controversial and Mr. Beck's show on Fox News is coming to an end as his audience numbers fell over the past year. There is no doubt, however, that millions continue to tune into Mr. Beck's broadcasts and The Blaze, a news site he launched last year.