Photo by Donnie Weatherhead

After several years of propulsive growth, the D.C.-based daily deals company LivingSocial slowed down drastically in 2012, as evidenced by the $650 million loss it posted in a regulatory filling.

LivingSocial is privately held, and thus not required to share its earnings reports with the Security and Exchange Commission, but online retail giant Amazon, which owns a 29 percent stake of the five-year-old LivingSocial, is required to file. And even though LivingSocial’s annual revenue more than doubled last year to $536 million compared to $250 million in 2011, it incurred operating losses of $950 million.

Much of those losses came from a massive third-quarter write down of companies LivingSocial gobbled up as it expanded its reach around the world. The company reported a $566 million loss in the third quarter after seeing its acquisitions be devalued by $496 million. At the time, Tim O’Shaughnessy, the company’s founder and chief executive, told his some 5,000 employees not to worry. But a month later, LivingSocial announced it was cutting 400 jobs, including 160 spread across its six offices in D.C.

The District government is still very much banking on LivingSocial to anchor an emerging tech sector in the city’s economy, as evidenced by the $32.5 million tax break the company received last year. But those anticipated rebates on property and corporate income taxes are incumbent upon LivingSocial being profitable by the time the deal goes into effect in 2015.