It's no mystery that Groupon isn't quite the media darling it once was. But founder Andrew Mason apparently isn't trying to court that sort of treatment anymore -- he's coming out with gloves on and bobbing and weaving like a prize fighter.
At the Digital Life Design conference in Munich, Mason locked horns with author and journalist David Kirkpatrick (author of "The Facebook Effect"), who questioned why Mason and many early Groupon investors cashed in their shares when the company was still private.
According to venturebeat.com, Mason shot back: "It doesn't matter that you don't understand. … Everybody has their number that lets them sleep at night. People went from overly cheerleadery … to everybody piling on."
Mason then, perhaps unironically, mocked Google and Amazon for buying up every company around. Groupon, of course, has been on its own talent-acquiring spree that's still continuing. The latest addition to the Groupon family is Mertado.com, a social-shopping startup that lets people find and buy products and services through social networks like Facebook.
Between this and Clicky, Groupon's Facebook game-thing, it's clear the company is planning something big with social media. The question still remains: what?
Groupon's stock is holding at $20.75.
David Wolinsky is a freelance writer and a lifelong Chicagoan. In addition to currently serving as an interviewer-writer for Adult Swim, he's also a columnist for EGM. He was the Chicago city editor for The Onion A.V. Club where he provided in-depth daily coverage of this city's bustling arts/entertainment scene for half a decade. When not playing video games for work he's thinking of dashing out to Chicago Diner, Pizano's, or Yummy Yummy. His first career aspirations were to be a game-show host.
