Groupon shares plummet 30% after replacing CEO
The company made the announcement on Tuesday during its earnings report, when Groupon revealed its board of directors had voted to replace its cofounder and CEO Eric Lefkofsky with Rich Williams, the company's ruling COO.
Groupon's new CEO Rich Williams has been at Groupon since 2011, joining the company after leaving Amazon, where he was in charge of running worldwide marketing and advertising. Lefkofsky, who took the helm at Groupon in 2013 in the wake of its cofounder Andrew Mason being fired, had been in talks with Groupon's board over the past six to twelve months about handing over the role of CEO to someone else, he told Recode.
Lefkofsky will return to his role as Chairman of the Board.
Despite Groupon's struggles, revenue grew 32 percent during Lefkofsky's tenure, according to the company's statement.
Tuesday's earnings, however, show that that growth has stalled. Revenue was $713.6 million in the third quarter of 2015, down slightly from the $714.3 million in the same quarter in 2014.
