Late last week, GigaOM reported that Faisal Masud, the vice president of Groupon Goods, would be leaving the daily-deals company to take a position at Staples. Masud’s departure comes about a year after he left eBay to lead Groupon’s e-commerce arm, which has seen success since its inception in 2011. The news was shared just days before Groupon’s first-quarter earnings announcement on Wednesday.
“Our sources said Masud’s departure was prompted by tensions between the emerging e-commerce side of the company and Groupon’s local-coupon roots,” according to Eliza Kern at GigaOm.
In its fourth-quarter report, Groupon noted that Groupon Goods experienced a successful holiday season in 2012 and had an annual run rate of $2.0 billion in global billings.
While Groupon Goods is the company’s fastest-growing business, it has lower margins than its traditional daily-deals business.
Options traders are expecting Groupon’s shares to rise at least 15 percent on Wednesday, though this kind of optimism isn’t shared by everyone.
Network
