Groupon recently disclosed it owes more to merchants than it has in the bank; the online discounter stays afloat only by selling new Groupons. So the Groupon's recent sales dive is particularly unwelcome.

Wedbush Securities reports that Groupon's "rapidly decelerating Q2 growth" has driven down Groupon shares 20 percent in private sales. Reuters also reports that the startup is replacing its sales chief.

Groupon needs strong cash flow from new sales to keep paying off liabilities from its previous sales; thanks in part to a series of massive executive bonuses, the startup has current liabilities nearly twice the size of its current assets. Given that balance sheet insolvency, Groupon's cash solvency was its claim on on the being worthy of a public stock offering. And it sounds like the company is rather attentively trying to shore that up. "Trying" being the key word.