Groupon will not hire CEO from within- for now…- GRPN, AMZN & EBAY
Northern, WI 03/07/2013 (avauncer) - Groupon Inc (NASDAQ:GRPN) plans on hiring a CEO from outside the company to take the place of Ousted Chief Executive Officer Andrew Mason. The company will be hiring an executive-recruiting firm with a fortnight and will be hiring a new CEO within 3-6 months. No details have been provided and all talks are still private said a person in know of the matter. The main consideration will be the person’s capacity to bring in profit-making changes and restoring the credibility of the company. Groupon has borne losses to the tune of $723.8 million over the past three years.
No internal candidates
The fact that Groupon Inc (NASDAQ:GRPN) is restricting the search to external candidates automatically rules out the immediate possibility of current board members such as Kal Raman the Chief Operating Officer, filling up the post. Raman, an Amazon.com, Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) and eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY) veteran has been considered to be a top contender by many leading analysts. Board members, Ted Leonsis and Eric Lefkofsky who are in charge of the search and are temporarily managing the running of the company in the absence of a CEO are not prospective candidates.
Tough proposition
Every effort will be made to look for a suitable external candidate but if one is not found within the time frame that the company has set for itself, Groupon Inc (NASDAQ:GRPN) might hire someone from within. Headhunters are bound to have a tough time in finding an executive who will be willing to take over the reins of a company whose business has not been in the best of health for a while now. Apart from this, the person who eventually fills up the seat will have to take direct orders from Groupon’s co-founder and executive chairman, Adam Charlson and will have to be willing to handle company oversight. All in all, this is going to be a tough hunt.
Shares of Groupon Inc (NASDAQ:GRPN) went down by 6.03% to close at $5.30
Shares of Amazon.com, Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) went down by 0.65% to close at $273.79
Shares of eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY) went down by 3.06% to close at $53.57
Mark
