Groupon founder and CEO Andrew Mason has admitted his team made a "bush-league mistake" in the lead-up to the company's IPO filing last November. The daily deals monger was forced to revise its filing papers after reporting that it generated $713.4 million (£466.3 million) - the Securities Exchange Commission said revenue figures should have been $312.9 million (£204.5 million) - a considerable discrepancy.
"Smart people can get this stuff wrong," Mason said in an interview.
"We're inventing a new industry. Like, if we were smart, evil people, we would be more cunning and subtle in our evil ways."
Although Groupon's share prices beat analyst expectations following its IPO filing - the bargain hunter had the strongest debut of any internet company since Google - share prices have cooled off, while competition has continued to heat up.
Groupon struck the right chord with users initially - more than 150 million users are signed up to receive daily deals to their inboxes.
However, as competitors like Google and PayPal are entering the ring, Groupon may have no choice to revise its business model - the young company has yet to turn a profit, and retailers are beginning to shy away from Groupon arguing that they lose money as they struggle to retain new customers.
"I think if there's any difference between me and a traditional CEO, it's that I've been unwilling to change myself or shape my personality around what's expected," Mason said.
"Am I as experienced or as mature or smart as other CEOs? No, probably not. But there's something useful about having the founder as a CEO."
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Source: http://www.bigmouthmedia.com/live/articles/groupon-founder-admits-his-failings-.asp/8821/
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