Groupon Inc’s shares increased more than 6 percent on Wednesday after Chief Executive Andrew Mason came up from the company’s post-IPO quiet period to share holiday sales numbers.

Groupon sold more than 650,000 holiday deals between Black Friday and Cyber Monday, an rise of 500 percent compared with last year, Mason stated in a blog post on Wednesday.

The largest daily-deal company’s shares have been hammered in recent weeks on concern about increased competition. The stock has dropped by nearly half since hitting a high of $31.14 on its November 4 market debut.

Groupon shares rose 6.9 percent to $17.11 in late morning trading on Nasdaq — but were still below the $20 IPO price.

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