Groupon Inc (GRPN) Doesn’t Need a New CEO

This didn’t seem like such a bad move when Groupon went public as a $12 billion company, but now it seems critical with Groupon’s market cap below $4 billion.

Let’s back things up a bit. Groupon was able to go public at more than double Google’s offer a few months later. It’s easy to play revisionist history now, but cashing out would’ve meant leaving money on the table at the time.

And let’s get back to that Google offer. Many sources claim that the ultimate deal breaker for the deal maker was that Google didn’t want to pay more than $800 million as a breakup fee if regulators blocked the deal.

Google didn’t want to pony up more bail money because it had to know that there was a pretty good chance that antitrust regulators would drag their feet. The world’s leading online advertising company buying the world’s leading daily deals provider?

The Justice Department took nearly a year to approve past purchases including DoubleClick, Motorola Mobility, and ITA Software. This deal would’ve take even longer, and under the likely scenario that it would’ve been denied, the daily deals niche would have already been exposed as limited. Groupon wouldn’t be able to go public, and it certainly wouldn’t have been worth $6 billion.

Mason certainly doesn’t deserve CEO of the Year accolades, but he’s not the reason that Groupon is unloved these days.

A new CEO won’t fix the problem. It anything, a new leader with fresh vision could do more harm than good.

It’s the daily deals model that’s flawed, and if you think otherwise feel free to use the comments section below to explain how you would fix Groupon if you were in charge. They are looking for an external hire, you know.

Today’s Groupon shareholders may have shot the messenger, but they’re still left holding the message.

The article Groupon Doesn’t Need a New CEO originally appeared on Fool.com.

Longtime Fool contributor Rick Aristotle Munarriz has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Amazon.com and Google. The Motley Fool owns shares of Amazon.com and Google.

Copyright © 1995 – 2013 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.