Andrew Mason, founder and chief executive officer of Groupon Inc. Photographer: Noah Berger/Bloomberg
Feb. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Groupon Inc., owner of the largest website for daily deals, is ramping up hiring of managers who can help spearhead expansion abroad, according to two people involved in the planning. Bloomberg's Douglas MacMillan reports. (Source: Bloomberg)
Groupon Inc., owner of the largest
website for daily deals, is ramping up hiring of managers who
can help spearhead expansion abroad, according to two people
involved in the planning.
The company retained a search firm and has approached
candidates including Jason Kilar, chief executive officer of
Hulu LLC, to gauge interest in becoming head of worldwide
operations, said one of the people, who asked not to be
identified because the search is private. It couldn’t be
determined whether Kilar plans to take the job. The position may
be filled within the next 30 days, the person said.
Global expansion is crucial as Groupon CEO Andrew Mason
weighs a potential initial public offering this year. The
company offers its deals in 35 countries, and gets much of its
sales from outside the U.S. Management’s ability to promote
growth abroad could help set it apart from rivals like
LivingSocial, which in December said it received a $183 million
investment led by Amazon.com Inc.
Mason, 30, founded Chicago-based Groupon in 2008 after
abandoning a career in music and then dropping out of a graduate
program in public policy to work on a website. The company
brought in Rob Solomon as president and chief operating officer
in March, adding an Internet veteran with experience as an
entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and manager at Yahoo! Inc.
Julie Mossler, a spokeswoman for Groupon, didn’t respond
yesterday to a message seeking comment. Kilar and a
representative of Hulu didn’t respond to requests for comment.
‘Two in the Box’
In searching for an experienced technology executive to
fill the international role, Groupon’s board may be aiming to
groom a manager who could eventually succeed Solomon or Mason.
Efforts to use an outsider to take over from a founder --
especially one like Mason, who has helped forge an office
culture around his offbeat sense of humor and penchant for
pranks -- frequently fail, said Stephen Miles, vice chairman at
executive consulting firm Heidrick & Struggles.
“Often founders are used to calling the shots in a
dictatorial manner,” Miles said. “When you have two in the box,
it creates an additional level of decision-making complexity
that can derail a company.”
Last week, Groupon added executive muscle to its board of
directors, appointing Starbucks founder and CEO Howard Schultz,
the company said in statement.
Groupon sends daily deals to 50 million subscribers. A year
ago, it had 2 million users and its only market was the U.S. It
offers discounts of as much as 90 percent at businesses such as
restaurants, nail salons and clothing stores. It then keeps a
portion of the revenue.
Financing Growth
Last month, Groupon completed a $950 million round of
financing, a deal that valued the company at $4.75 billion,
people with knowledge of the matter said. Groupon said it would
use the funds to expand the business and buy back equity from
existing shareholders.
Mason and other executives at the company have been in
talks with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley about
pursuing an IPO valuing the company at $15 billion, a person
said in January. The chances of a Groupon IPO this year are
“less than 100 percent,” Mason said in an interview at the
Digital-Life-Design conference in Munich late last month.
To contact the reporters on this story:
Douglas MacMillan in San Francisco at
dmacmillan3@bloomberg.net.
Brian Womack in San Francisco at
Bwomack1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Tom Giles at tgiles5@bloomberg.net