The American Groupon has a new CEO. One of the partners of Pale Fire Capital, Dušan Šenkypl, will fully dedicate himself to managing the company’s transformation.
The board of directors of the American company Groupon has appointed Dušan Šenkypl as interim CEO. In this executive role, Šenkypl will actively lead the transformation of Groupon and oversee the daily operations of the company. Groupon already has several Czechs in its leadership. Marie Havlíčková (formerly of Slevomat) is helping Šenkypl with the overall transformation strategy of the company, while Vojtěch Ryšánek, who was involved in the last transformation of Aukro, is serving as interim CTO at Groupon. “The transformation of Groupon will require several changes that cannot be achieved without talented individuals who are hungry for success and results. Groupon is looking for meticulous and goal-oriented people who are not afraid of a rapidly changing environment and working remotely in a remote-first company. I firmly believe that with the right people on our mission to increase the value of Groupon for shareholders, we will succeed,” adds Dušan Šenkypl.
Dušan Šenkypl has been appointed interim CEO of the American company Groupon as of today. He will continue to be a member of Groupon’s board of directors, to which he and Jan Barta were appointed in June and November of last year, respectively, when Pale Fire Capital became the largest shareholder in Groupon with a current stake of approximately 22%. Dušan Šenkypl will now devote himself fully to his new role, and therefore, will transfer his daily responsibilities at Pale Fire Capital to other partners. This move demonstrates the Czech investor’s belief in Groupon’s future success.
“I have already built companies with millions of users and great business results from scratch several times. The success of our previous projects was based on super-efficient teams and scalable processes. This will also be my priority for the first months at Groupon. We must set up the entire environment and motivational aspects in such a way that every activity is performance-measurable. We need to have the right numbers to make decisions. The management team must have the conditions and the courage or ability to make decisions quickly and not be afraid to enforce significant changes in internal rules and processes when necessary,” describes Dušan Šenkypl, adding: “This approach is certainly not for everyone. Therefore, I assume that Groupon will be looking for new colleagues in the Czech Republic and elsewhere in the world in the coming period. Those who will be hungry for success, have the ability to score goals, and will be ready to roll up their sleeves and immerse themselves in all the details and complexity of Groupon’s business.”
Dušan Šenkypl was appointed today, with the announcement made by Ted Leonis, the chairman of the board of Groupon. Among other things, Leonis stated: “Dušan 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. The Board is focused on accelerating Groupon’s transformation and we are confident that Dušan can help us reach this important goal. We are very excited to see the progress the company can make this year with Dušan as interim CEO.”
It should be noted that the change in Groupon’s leadership occurred after the announcement of fourth quarter 2022 results, which were disappointing. In 2022, Groupon ended with 19 million active customers, 14 million orders, $148 million in revenue, and $281 million in accounts. In the same report, Groupon confirmed its plans to reduce costs, which include a goal to save approximately $250 million annually by the end of 2023. The goal is to restore the company’s growth while achieving positive adjusted EBITDA. It is worth reminding that Groupon is changing its business model following the transformation of the Czech company Slevomat. It aims to further focus on the value it can bring to local vendors of interesting experiences and services or their customers.