Groupon Names Cofounder Eric Lefkofsky Permanent CEO

What's This?

By Seth Fiegerman2013-08-07 20:35:56 UTC

Groupon's board of directors has appointed Eric Lefkofsky as its permanent CEO, the company announced late Wednesday.

Lefkofsky, Groupon's co-founder and largest shareholder, had been serving as interim co-CEO with vice chairman Ted Leonsis after the company fired co-founder Andrew Mason in February following a series of disappointing earnings results.

“The Board is encouraged by Groupon’s performance under Eric’s leadership, and we’re pleased that he has agreed to lead the company through this important stage of its evolution,” Leonsis said in a statement. Leonsis has been named chairman of the board.

The news came as part of the company's second quarter earnings report. Groupon reported earnings per share of $0.02 on revenue of $608 million, slightly beating Wall Street estimates of earnings of $0.02 per share on revenue of $606 million.

Groupon also announced plans to repurchase as much as $300 million of its Class A stock over the next two years. The company's stock shot up by more than 12% in after-hours trading following the earnings report, CEO announcement and share repurchase plan.

Groupon's stock has more than doubled since Mason was pushed out from the company. Mason, meanwhile, has kept busy recording a motivational business album and working on a new startup in San Francisco.