Groupon Announces Management Transition
March 25 2020 - 4:10PM
Business Wire
Aaron Cooper, President of North America,
appointed interim CEO
Groupon today announced that Rich Williams is no longer serving
as CEO and that Aaron Cooper, Groupon's President of North America,
has been appointed interim CEO by the Board of Directors. Chief
Operating Officer Steve Krenzer is also no longer serving in his
role. Williams and Krenzer will continue as employees of the
Company.
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Aaron Cooper, Groupon's President of
North America, has been appointed interim CEO by Groupon's Board of
Directors. (Photo: Business Wire)
“The entire Board of Directors is grateful to Rich and Steve for
their service,” said Chairman Eric Lefkofsky. “Aaron headed our
North America business and is well-positioned to take on the CEO
role at Groupon, as we conduct a full process to install a
permanent successor. We have a deep bench of senior talent and the
team is intensely focused on executing against our strategy during
this unprecedented moment in time.”
Cooper has held multiple senior leadership positions across his
10-year Groupon career. He was the company’s first chief marketing
officer and also ran the Travel and Goods businesses before
assuming his current role. Prior to joining Groupon, he held a
variety of marketing and leadership positions at Orbitz and
optionsXpress as well as consulting roles at AEG Partners, AOL and
Price Waterhouse Management Consultants.
“Having spent 10 years with Groupon, I have seen the company
develop from a small email-based platform into what we believe will
be the leading online destination for experiences,” Cooper said.
“The disruption created by the global pandemic, however, is
significant, and our immediate goal is to help millions of Groupon
merchants, customers and employees navigate the massive challenges
they face. We have a strong team in place that is in constant
communication with our community, working on opportunities to
support them in new ways during these uncertain times, even as we
continue to focus on strengthening Groupon’s leadership
position.”
The Board of Directors has formed a committee to lead the search
for a permanent CEO and Cooper is expected to participate.
About Groupon
Groupon (www.groupon.com) (NASDAQ: GRPN) is an experiences
marketplace that brings people more ways to get the most out of
their city or wherever they may be. By enabling real-time mobile
commerce across local businesses, live events and travel
destinations, Groupon helps people find and discover
experiences––big and small, new and familiar––that make for a full,
fun and rewarding life. Groupon helps local businesses grow and
strengthen customer relationships––resulting in strong, vibrant
communities. To learn more about Groupon’s community-building
efforts, please visit community.groupon.com.
Note on Forward-Looking Statements
The statements contained in this release that refer to plans and
expectations for the next quarter, the full year or the future are
forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the
Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, including statements
regarding our future results of operations and financial position,
business strategy and plans and our objectives for future
operations. The words "may," "will," "should," "could," "expect,"
"anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "intend," "continue" and other
similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking
statements. We have based these forward looking statements largely
on current expectations and projections about future events and
financial trends that we believe may affect our financial
condition, results of operations, business strategy, short-term and
long-term business operations and objectives, and financial needs.
These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties
that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those
expressed or implied in our forward-looking statements. Such risks
and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, our ability to
execute, and achieve the expected benefits of our go-forward
strategy, including our planned exit from the Goods business;
volatility in our operating results; effects of pandemics or
disease outbreaks, including COVID-19, on our business; execution
of our marketing strategies; retaining existing customers and
adding new customers; challenges arising from our international
operations, including fluctuations in currency exchange rates,
legal and regulatory developments and any potential adverse impact
from the United Kingdom's exit from the European Union, retaining
and adding high quality merchants; our reliance on email, internet
search engines and mobile application marketplaces to drive traffic
to our marketplace; cybersecurity breaches; reliance on cloud-based
computing platforms; competing successfully in our industry;
providing a strong mobile experience for our customers; maintaining
and improving our information technology infrastructure; our
voucherless offerings; claims related to product and service
offerings; managing inventory and order fulfillment risks;
litigation; managing refund risks; retaining and attracting members
of our executive team; completing and realizing the anticipated
benefits from acquisitions, dispositions, joint ventures and
strategic investments; lack of control over minority investments;
compliance with domestic and foreign laws and regulations,
including the CARD Act, GDPR and regulation of the Internet and
e-commerce; classification of our independent contractors or
employees; tax liabilities; tax legislation; protecting our
intellectual property; maintaining a strong brand; customer and
merchant fraud; payment-related risks; our ability to raise capital
if necessary and our outstanding indebtedness; global economic
uncertainty; our common stock, including volatility in our stock
price; our convertible senior notes; and our ability to realize the
anticipated benefits from the hedge and warrant transactions. For
additional information regarding these and other risks and
uncertainties, we urge you to refer to the factors included under
the headings "Risk Factors" and "Management's Discussion and
Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" in the
company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December
31, 2019, and our other filings with the Securities and Exchange
Commission, copies of which may be obtained by visiting the
company's Investor Relations web site at investor.groupon.com or
the SEC's web site at www.sec.gov. Groupon's actual results could
differ materially from those predicted or implied and reported
results should not be considered an indication of future
performance. You should not rely upon forward-looking statements as
predictions of future events. Although Groupon believes that the
expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are
reasonable, it cannot guarantee that the future results, levels of
activity, performance or events and circumstances reflected in the
forward-looking statements will be achieved or occur. Moreover,
neither Groupon nor any other person assumes responsibility for the
accuracy and completeness of the forward-looking statements. The
forward-looking statements reflect our expectations as of the date
of this release. We undertake no obligation to update publicly any
forward-looking statements for any reason after the date of this
release to conform these statements to actual results or to changes
in our expectations.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200325005720/en/
Media Relations Contact: Bill Roberts, 312-459-5191
billr@groupon.com
Investor Relations Contact: Jennifer Beugelmans
jbeugelmans@groupon.com
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