back to article Groupon CEO Mason sent packing as shares continue to plummet

Groupon CEO Andrew Mason has been handed his walking papers, to be replaced by executive chairman Eric Lefkofsky and vice chairman Ted Leonsis on an interim basis while the board looks for a new chief exec. The move comes less than 24 hours after the struggling daily-deals site announced yet another disappointing quarter, …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I have to admire his honesty

    He seems to have been a crap CEO running a joke of a business, but that resignation letter is the most honest admission of personal failings I've seen in a long time. I wonder what working for him was like.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: I have to admire his honesty

      And humor. Funniest intentionally-funny corporate communication in some time. His calling out of the insincerity of most resignation statements is refreshing.

    2. Rampant Spaniel

      Re: I have to admire his honesty

      Couldn't have said it better myself, he didn't go to the same BS classes as your average ceo.

    3. Grikath
      Stop

      Re: I have to admire his honesty

      Really? All I can see is a fat "battletoad" that has sponged off investors with somthing that turned out to be a Really, really bad idea just around the 70's, and is ultimately walking off with a serious profit on his personal bank account.

      I'd damn well be smiling and joking too..

      1. Eric Hood

        Re: I have to admire his honesty

        Investors should do research before investing otherwise they are mug punters gambling not investing.

        1. Don Jefe

          Re: I have to admire @Eric

          If a person does intense statistical analysis in order to pick the winning horse in a race does that make them an investor?

      2. LarsG

        Re: I have to admire his honesty

        "On behalf of the entire Groupon Board, I want to thank Andrew for his leadership, his creativity and his deep loyalty to Groupon."

        With a nice big pay off for failing with a failing concept.

        1. Michael Wojcik Silver badge

          Re: I have to admire his honesty

          With a nice big pay off for failing with a failing concept.

          How is it a "failing concept"? They got a pile of money from investors. Looks like their plan was a success to me. When did GroupOn claim they planned to produce anything of value?

      3. auburnman

        Re: I have to admire his honesty

        We were talking about this the other day at work - what incentive is there in today's era of golden parachutes for CxO's to give a toss whether they succeed or fail? Paid if they do well, paid off with enough money to retire on if they don't, and no-one dare say a word against them in case it reflects badly on share prices. I'm honestly starting to suspect the likes of Gates and Ballmer know that they don't have a clue how to revitalise their cash cow businesses and don't care because they already have more money than they know what to do with.

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: I have to admire his honesty

      He may be honest about how he his shortcomings in the role and how as CEO he saw he was getting in the way of the future of the company ..... but to give a positive spin on that surely he'd would need to be able to say "I realized all this and so I'm resigning" - instead it reads more like "despite all this I stayed on until other people noticed and fired me"

  2. Don Jefe
    Happy

    Candidates

    How about that lunatic from Overstock.com? Or that orange guy thats the Speaker of The House?

  3. tkioz
    Pint

    At least he's got a sense of humour about it.

    Beer for Friday.

  4. rcorrect
    FAIL

    Eric Lefkofsky

    At least Groupon still has Eric Lefkofsky, "lets start having fun ... lets get funky ... lets announce everything ... lets be WILDLY positive in our forecasts ... lets take this thing to the extreme ... if we get wacked on the ride down – who gives a shit ... THE TIME TO GET RADICAL IS NOW ... WE HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE...,"

    For anyone who has lived under a rock the last couple years: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/06/11/eric_lefkofsky_of_groupon/

  5. Khaptain Silver badge

    Sweet Success

    Mason has definately succeeded. The article doesn't mention how much Mason walked away with but judging by his letter this is definately a happy camper.

    He walks away with a large capital, a packet load of experience, an address book that probably couldn't be paid for and I can easilly imagine that he is already thinking about his next venture.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Sweet Success

      ......and I can easilly imagine that he is already thinking about the next marks to be targetted.

      there, fixed that for you.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Sweet Success

      Probably walked away with a voucher entitling him to buy millions of dollars worth of Groupon Stock at a massive discount from their list(ing) price! But, like all Groupon offers it depends on whether he's actually able to cash that voucher in for what he was expecting to get!

  6. theloon

    was just a matter of time for him and GroupOn in general

    the entire concept is fundamentally flawed from both the user and the seller side. It sounds great,but ask a retailer...they are not enjoying

    nice try, #FAIL it seems

  7. Andrew Moore

    Today's Groupon Offer...

    CEO, 50% off.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    but he WOULD like to spend more time with my family

    wouldn't he? I wouldn't, but then, I'm a househusband, 24/7 with my family. Kinda. Now, if I was given marching orders, and a diamond parachute...

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I mean really

    How many people with a clue new this Biz model was unsustainable? Answer: Everyone. The others invested in GroupCon.

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