Groupon and Its 'Weird' CEO

By SHAYNDI RAICE (From Wall Street Journal)

Groupon Inc. Chief Executive Andrew Mason wants to prove his company is worth the fuss after its roller-coaster ride to an initial public offering last year.

CEO Andrew Mason on Groupon's long-term prospects and what people got wrong during the company's Nov. 2011 IPO.

The 31-year-old founder took his Chicago-based daily deals site public in November at a valuation of $13 billion, well below the $15 billion to $20 billion price tag Groupon once thought it could command. The IPO also brought on questions about another bubble in the Internet sector and the viability of the daily-deals business model.

Critics pointed out that Groupon was unprofitable and was spending heavily to acquire new subscribers amid a flood of competition from daily-deal clones. The company also raised eyebrows at the Securities and Exchange Commission over an unusual accounting metric called Adjusted Consolidated Segment Operating Income, which showed the company's revenue minus certain marketing costs.

Groupon's stock soared 31% above its $20 IPO price on its first day of trading, but withered in following weeks. Shares closed at $19.63, down 2.1%, in 4 p.m. trading Monday. The company is set to report its first quarterly results as a public company next week.

Mr. Mason, who sometimes posts online videos of himself in his underwear doing yoga or dancing, sat down for a recent interview in his Chicago office to discuss challenges facing the company and his ability to handle them. Edited excerpts:

WSJ: Do you think you're mature enough to be the CEO of a multi-billion dollar company?

Mr. Mason: I got the company this far. To the degree I was weird, I was weird before we were a public company and managed to get it worth whatever it's worth. I'm going to continue doing my thing and work my butt off to add value for shareholders and as long as they and the board see fit to keep me in this role, I feel enormously privileged to serve.
[GROUPON]

WSJ: Groupon has been criticized by analysts and investors for not being profitable. How important is profitability?

Mr. Mason: We believe that the most important thing for us to be focused on is growing the business, building something that our consumers and our merchant partners love. And when you focus on those inputs, revenue and profitability is the output and it follows naturally.

WSJ: Some critics say the daily deal model is too easy to replicate.

Mr. Mason: There's proof. There are over 2,000 direct clones of the Groupon business model. However, there's an equal amount of proof that the barriers to success are enormous. In spite of all those competitors, only a handful are remotely relevant.

WSJ: Why?

Mr. Mason: People overlook the operational complexity. We have 10,000 employees across 46 countries. We have thousands of salespeople talking to tens of thousands of merchants every single day. It's not an easy thing to build.

WSJ: You had a rough IPO. What was the hardest part?

Mr. Mason: After filing the S-1, we entered a quiet period that greatly restricted our ability to have a conversation with the public. It was frustrating to not be able to directly address many of the concerns that people raised about the business.

WSJ: Including discussing "Adjusted Consolidated Segment Operating Income?" You were accused by critics of trying to hide your high marketing costs from investors.

Mr. Mason: Groupon spends money on marketing in a way that's different from traditional Internet and e-commerce companies. Our marketing spend is designed to drive subscribers to our daily mailing list. A traditional e-commerce company is driving transactions. Our own proprietary advertising network can continually advertise to our customers at virtually no additional cost. There's an upfront investment that we know pays off over the long-term.

WSJ: Was it a mistake to include that metric?

Mr. Mason: In retrospect, I think it was naive, and I wouldn't have included it. The list of companies that have added their own financial metrics is not a savory group. It created a distraction that wasn't worth the benefit.

WSJ: The SEC also took issue with a memo you wrote to employees during the quiet period that was leaked to the press.

Mr. Mason: I wrote the memo because 23-year-olds were coming into my office and asking how they should respond to their parents when they ask if Groupon is about to go bankrupt. The risks of not communicating to my employees were greater than the risks of doing otherwise.

If I knew it was going to leak, I would have been less bizarre, and I wouldn't have made a joke about my now-wife. She was upset. (He joked that his then-girlfriend asked him why he never said anything nice about her.)

WSJ: Groupon's stock price is trading below its IPO price of $20. Why?

Mr. Mason: Luckily there are people smarter than me in this world that know the answers to those kinds of questions. I leave that to the financial community.

I'm aware of it [stock price], but I think as a company we aren't driven by it. Even in our short time as a public company, we've seen enough examples of the stock shifting 5% or 10% based on nothing, that you're very quickly trained that it's a futile exercise to be responsive to the stock.

WSJ: What opportunities are you most excited about for Groupon?

Mr. Mason: The fundamental innovation of Groupon is that we've found a way to enhance local commerce using the Internet. We've used the discount to deliver more buying power for consumers, as well as solve better inventory management for merchants, delivering them more profits. The "daily deal" is the first incarnation of local e-commerce. We can turn Groupon into a daily habit for consumers, and something that enhances every transaction for merchants.

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