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Groupon CEO Mason says he would "fire myself" if needed

November 28, 2012 at 05:35 pm

MarketScreener.com By

Groupon CEO Mason says he would "fire myself" if needed

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Groupon Inc CEO Andrew Mason, under fire for a plunging share price and tapering growth, said on Wednesday he would agree to step down if needed, as the struggling company's board prepared to debate on Thursday whether he remains the right leader.

Groupon has shed four-fifths of its value since its public trading debut as an investor darling during last year's consumer dotcom IPO boom. Wall Street has grown uneasy about the viability of its business as fever for daily deals has cooled among consumers and merchants, hurting its growth rate.

Mason, responding to reports that the board of directors will discuss his performance during a regular Thursday meeting, said it would be "weird" if they did not.

"It would be more noteworthy if the board wasn't discussing whether I'm the right guy for the job," Mason said in an interview from a Business Insider conference.

"If I ever thought I wasn't the right person for the job, I'd be the first person to fire myself."

Europe has been a particular problem for Groupon, partly because the sovereign debt crisis has sapped demand for higher-priced deals. Groupon was also offering steeper discounts, turning off some European merchants.

Adding to its difficulties, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is looking into Groupon's accounting and disclosures, areas that raised questions among some during its IPO.

(Reporting By Liana Baker; Editing by David Gregorio)

Stocks mentioned in the article

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	GROUPON, INC.	16.89 USD	+11.78%	+54.39%	668M

Andrew Mason

Andrew Mason is the founder and CEO of the website Groupon.

Andrew Mason grew up in Pittsburgh. At fifteen years old he launched a small delivery business, called Bagel Express: the mark of entrepreneurial spirit is felt very early. In 1999 he moved to Chicago in order to follow classes at Northwestern University and to obtain a Bachelor in music.

But after three months of classes, Andrew leaved for a good reason. He received an unexpected offer from his former boss available to finance Andrew’s ideas. These ideas will debouch into The Point, which will put the basis to Groupon. He had this idea when he discovered he was overcharged on his telephone invoice and he didn’t have any power of negotiation. Then he imagines a website that allows internet users to cluster in order to negotiate and buy at the best conditions.

Thank to a loan of one million dollar from Eric Lefkofsky, Andrew Manson can launch the platform The Point in November 2007. Alas, the website didn’t find huge success.

Quickly, Andrew brings Point’s business model up, he should change something. In November 2008, at 29 years old, he founded Groupon (contraction of the words “Group” + “Coupon”) an e-commerce site based on the concept of group purchasing. This time, the idea is to distribute vouchers already negotiated with small retailer. He sells them at its customers and he withdraws a commission of 50%. The website launched its first offer in October 2008, for a pizza at half price and then many offers are diffused in Boston, New York and Toronto.

Then the site knew an explosive growth. According to a report in Forbes and a report in the Wall Street Journal, Groupon should generate $ 1 billion dollars faster than any other company.

This growth is allowed by many young business acquisitions, for example Citydeal in May 2010, in France, Germany and U.K. Groupon buys ClanDescuento also present in South America in June 2010, then Qpod.jp in Japan in August 2010 and finally Darberry.ru present in Russia. Prior to these acquisitions, the company had bought Groupon mobile technology Mob.ly.

In two years and half the company is installed in over 45 countries, with more than 4 000 employees. In December 2010, Groupon rejects an offer from Google of $ 6 billion in order to acquire the site.

Since 4 November 2011 Groupon is listed on New York Stock Exchange, and the price of its initial public offering at $20 a share.

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Linked companies
Descript, Inc. Descript, Inc. Packaged SoftwareTechnology Services Descript, Inc. engages in the development of audio editor for new media creators. It is also involved in transcription and video editing. The company was founded by Andrew D. Mason in 2017 and is headquartered in San Francisco, CA.	Chief Executive Officer