Popular daily deals website, Groupon, has proven to be a real disappointment for its shareholders as the company showed poor results when it released its last quarter earnings on Wednesday, February 26th. As a result of that its stock price plunged by 25 percent after which Groupon finally dismissed its founder and CEO, Andrew Mason on Thursday, February 27th and appointed Vice Chairman Ted Leonisis and Executive Chairman Eric Lefkofsky as the new co-CEOs. The duo will now take the chair in the Office of the Chief Executive to serve as interim CEOs until their company finds a permanent replacement who will then take over the charge from them.
After this move Lefkofsky released an official statement:
“On behalf of the entire Groupon Board, I want to thank Andrew for his leadership, his creativity and his deep loyalty to Groupon. As a founder, Andrew helped invent the daily deals space, leading Groupon to become one of the fastest growing companies in history. Groupon will continue to invest in growth, and we are confident that with our deep management team and market-leading position, the company is well positioned for the future.”
The poor earnings in the latest quarter was the straw that broke the camels back. However, this was just a part of the problems that Groupon was facing. The pressure to replace Mason increased with the passage of time as the company fell further into a slump and finally the company released the CEO from his duties.
Mason on the other hand seems to be ‘OKAY’ with the decision of his company, as after the move was announced he left a tweet on his account, “which seems to have broken Jottit,” according to TechCrunch:
“For Groupon Employees: jottit.com/v5wux/ (Apparently, sharing oranges is necessary but insufficient #leadership)
— Andrew Mason (@andrewmason) February 28, 2013”
“People of Groupon,
After four and a half intense and wonderful years as CEO of Groupon, I’ve decided that I’d like to spend more time with my family. Just kidding – I was fired today. If you’re wondering why… you haven’t been paying attention. From controversial metrics in our S1 to our material weakness to two quarters of missing our own expectations and a stock price that’s hovering around one quarter of our listing price, the events of the last year and a half speak for themselves. As CEO, I am accountable.
You are doing amazing things at Groupon, and you deserve the outside world to give you a second chance. I’m getting in the way of that. A fresh CEO earns you that chance. The board is aligned behind the strategy we’ve shared over the last few months, and I’ve never seen you working together more effectively as a global company – it’s time to give Groupon a relief valve from the public noise.
For those who are concerned about me, please don’t be – I love Groupon, and I’m terribly proud of what we’ve created. I’m OK with having failed at this part of the journey. If Groupon was Battletoads, it would be like I made it all the way to the Terra Tubes without dying on my first ever play through. I am so lucky to have had the opportunity to take the company this far with all of you. I’ll now take some time to decompress (FYI I’m looking for a good fat camp to lose my Groupon 40, if anyone has a suggestion), and then maybe I’ll figure out how to channel this experience into something productive.
If there’s one piece of wisdom that this simple pilgrim would like to impart upon you: have the courage to start with the customer. My biggest regrets are the moments that I let a lack of data override my intuition on what’s best for our customers. This leadership change gives you some breathing room to break bad habits and deliver sustainable customer happiness – don’t waste the opportunity!
I will miss you terribly.
Love,
Andrew”
The ex-CEO and founder of Groupon, has been with the company right from its start back in 2008. During his tenure he had seen all sorts of highs and lows whether it’s the $750 million IPO or site’s struggles to maintain momentum.
Source: TechCrunch, TechVibes
Photo: MMW
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