Dive summary:
- After a another disappointing quarterly loss (the company has only had one profitable quarter since 2011), daily online coupon provider Groupon has asked CEO Andrew Mason to resign; Mason wrote a heartfelt and humorous resignation letter that made its way onto the internet yesterday.
- Officials at Groupon are searching for a new CEO and in the meantime Chairman Eric Lefkofsky and director Ted Leonsis will serve as interim co-CEOs; neither employee plans to serve as CEO in the long term.
- Groupon is among a wave of internet companies that experienced success in 2010 and 2011 , but struggled to keep up with the hype once going public; others include online gaming firm Zynga and Facebook.
From the article:
"Mr. Mason didn't return calls for comment. In a memo to employees that was by turns tongue-in-cheek and rueful, he said, '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.'"