LivingSocial Raises $400 Million and Hires Former CBS Exec

The Wall Street Journal tells us that LivingSocial has raised $400 million in its latest round of funding. The round was lead by current investors Amazon and Lightspeed Venture Partners along with new investors T. Rowe Price and Institutional Venture Partners.

According to the very short WSJ article, the number two coupon purveyor will be using the funds for expansion and in an attempt to keep up with Groupon, current holder of the number one spot.

There’s been no comment from LivingSocial as yet but as an added note, Tricia Duryee from All Thing Digital says that Neil Ashe, former president of CBS Interactive, is joining the board of LivingSocial.

Ashe’s appointment to the board will add additional expertise as the company bulks up to go against market-leading Groupon. It must also fend off other entrants, ranging from such giants as Facebook and Google to more scrappy one-off niche sites focused on categories, such as families, pets or religions.

LivingSocial has repeatedly vowed to overtake Groupon as the leader in the daily deals industry. Currently the company has 1,200 employees and is adding approximately one million users to its email list every week with around 25 million to date.