CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Groupon, Inc. (NASDAQ: GRPN), a leading destination for local services & experiences, announced that its Board of Directors (Board) has appointed Dusan Senkypl, co-founder of Pale Fire Capital and a member of the Board, to the role of interim Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately. Mr. Senkypl, who will be based in the Czech Republic, will remain on the Groupon Board of Directors. Mr. Senkypl succeeds Kedar Deshpande, who has stepped down as CEO and Director of Groupon and will serve as an advisor to the company for 60 days to aid in a smooth transition.
“Dusan is a proven leader and operator and his experiences leading transformations, building successful internet products and helping grow a marketplace similar to Groupon uniquely position him to step in as our interim CEO at this critical time,” said Ted Leonsis, Chairman of the Groupon Board of Directors. “Since he joined the Board, Dusan has been very engaged as a director, providing important oversight on Groupon’s strategy and strengths and helping the company identify areas in need of improvement. Given this, we believe that he will seamlessly transition into this new leadership role and help the company execute against and continue to refine the supply-led transformation strategy we announced during our fourth quarter earnings call. The Board is focused on accelerating Groupon’s transformation and we are confident that Dusan can help us reach this important goal. We are very excited to see the progress the company can make this year with Dusan as interim CEO.”
“I have a deep appreciation for the dedication that has gone into building this company and am honored to guide Groupon through its transformation and turnaround,” said Mr. Senkypl. “With unique local inventory, over 14 million active local customers and millions of visitor sessions per month, Groupon has valuable assets capable of fueling significant growth when paired with operational excellence. I am excited to build on that foundation to further scale the company’s marketplace and drive increased value for all stakeholders. I have built multiple businesses from the ground up that operated at scale with hundreds of millions of users, and I believe I know what we need to do at Groupon to take the company to the next level.”
Mr. Senkypl added, “After the January restructuring announcement and with the recent amendment to our credit facility, the company has a solid financial foundation to support our transformation this year. From my perspective, Groupon has a clear target environment where the business can compete and win. Our vision is to become the ultimate destination for local services and experiences, a marketplace where trust and value are core to our consumer and merchant value propositions. We operate in a large and attractive market and Groupon is uniquely positioned to extend its market leadership. I believe that we have the right assets in place to transform, but we need to do a much better job of incorporating operational excellence into everything we do. We are taking steps to ensure that we have the strong management team and operating systems in place to empower Groupon to make bolder decisions more quickly and ensure that our global team has the utmost clarity on our initiatives and goals. As we improve our execution by following a comprehensive transformation plan, I believe we can increase the value we deliver to our customers and merchant partners, and return the company to growth. I look forward to working closely with the Board and the talented team at Groupon to delight customers, help hard working merchant-partners grow their businesses and build an enduring brand and category leader.”
“It has been a tremendous honor to serve as the CEO of Groupon and I am proud of the goals our team has accomplished together, including a significant reduction of our fixed cost structure. I look forward to watching the company continue to transform into the ultimate destination for local services and experiences under Dusan’s leadership,” said Kedar Deshpande.
About Dusan Senkypl
Dusan Senkypl is joining Groupon from Pale Fire Capital, Groupon’s largest shareholder that holds nearly 22% of shares outstanding. Pale Fire is an entrepreneurial investment firm with ~$1 billion in AUM and two established investment strategies in technology private equity and global macro hedge fund. Its private equity portfolio includes ~30 B2C and marketplace companies. Dusan co-founded Pale Fire Capital in 2015 and serves as Chairman and CEO. In conjunction with his appointment to Groupon CEO, Dusan will be stepping down from day-to-day responsibilities at Pale Fire Capital.
Dusan is an entrepreneur by trade. Prior to Pale Fire, Dusan created several global ecommerce and technology projects used by more than 250 million of users. He built ePojisteni.cz and NetBrokers Holding, a dominant fintech player with more than 500 employees, which was bought by German media group Bauer Media in 2018. He enjoys sports and dedicates a portion of his time to non-profit projects.
About Groupon
Groupon (www.groupon.com) (NASDAQ: GRPN) is a trusted local marketplace where consumers go to buy services and experiences that make life more interesting and deliver boundless value. To find out more about Groupon, please visit https://about.groupon.com/press.
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