Why Groupon Goods VP and GM Quitting May Not Indicate Much of Anything

The shake-ups at the daily-deal giant continue: Faisal Masud, Groupon’s VP and GM of Groupon Goods, will be leaving the company by the end of the month. Where he’s leaving for hasn’t yet been disclosed or confirmed, though some are speculating and crediting “one source” with saying Masud is heading for a top position at Staples. Masud’s LinkedIn doesn’t indicate anything other than the fact he’s still at Groupon, where he came aboard in April 2012 after serving as eBay’s GM and head of global shipping and fulfillment.

That, in turn, was a position Masud held for a year. In fact, it seems to be a pattern for Masud to land in high-profile companies and stay put for about a year: His LinkedIn indicates he was at eBay for a year (2011-2012), was the senior manager of inventory control for Pottery Barn under Williams-Sonoma for a year (2004-2005) and also the merchandise operations manager for Amazon.com for a year (2002-2003).

So, leaving Groupon after a year may not indicate anything about Groupon’s conditions, necessarily. On the other hand, lots of other top-name people have been leaving, so who’s to say.

What is troubling, though, is that we haven't been hearing much in the way of big names coming to replace the ones leaving. 

Groupon’s stock, as of press time, is roughly hold steady in the mid-$5 range. As of press time, it’s at $5.57

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 comedy-writing instructor for Second City and an adjunct professor in DePaul’s College of Computing and Digital Media. (He also co-runs a blog behind the DePaul class, DIY Game Dev.) 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. His first career aspirations were to be a game-show host.

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