As you may know, Groupon fired its CEO on Thursday, a day after another disappointing earnings release, which sent stock tumbling. Since the news broke, the stock has taken a turn for the better.
In after hours trading on Thursday, the shares rose as high as 12% from the $4.53 closing price. Things have calmed down a bit in pre-market trading on Friday, with shares up to $4.65, up 2.65%.
Meanwhile, seemingly everyone on the Internet is throwing around their opinion of Mason and speculating on his and Groupon’s next move. Mason has been relatively quiet since just after the news broke, when he shared a letter he sent to Groupon employees, which included some of his characteristic sense of humor, and a comparison of Groupon to a game of Battletoads:
For those who are concerned about me, please don’t be – I love Groupon, and I’m terribly proud of what we’ve created. I’m OK with having failed at this part of the journey. If Groupon was Battletoads, it would be like I made it all the way to the Terra Tubes without dying on my first ever play through. I am so lucky to have had the opportunity to take the company this far with all of you. I’ll now take some time to decompress (FYI I’m looking for a good fat camp to lose my Groupon 40, if anyone has a suggestion), and then maybe I’ll figure out how to channel this experience into something productive.
He followed that up with this:
OK, I’m good on the fat camp recommendations.You may stop.Thank you.
— Andrew Mason (@andrewmason) February 28, 2013
He also retweeted this:
First the #Pope and now @andrewmason!?! Our esteemed leaders are falling like flies. #JustKidding #WhoCares #Groupon
— Gentleman Guard (@GentlemanGuard) February 28, 2013
That was 15 hours ago, and he’s been quiet (at least on Twitter) since.
According to CNN, Mason is getting a severance package of $378.36 due to his $756.72 per year salary (as some tech CEOs famously take low salaries because of their fortunes in stock). The report says Mason’s Groupon’s shares are worth $213 million at Thursday’s closing price.