Andrew Mason Fired as CEO of Groupon Inc.

Today was the last day Andrew Mason served as CEO of Groupon Inc. “Groupon fires CEO, Mason admits ‘failure’ in candid memo” reports Groupon “launched a search for a new leader to turn the company around, the same day its stock slid 24 percent after dismal quarterly results report.” The firing was confirmed by Mason’s brief memo to the company in which he jokingly stated he was let go: “I’ve decided that I’d like to spend more time with my family. Just kidding – I was fired today… the events of the last year and a half speak for themselves. As CEO, I am accountable.”

Chairman and co-founder Eric Lefkofsky and board member Ted Leonis will be interim CEOs. The article included a quote from a letter by the interim CEOs: “we all know our operational and financial performance has eroded the confidence of many of our supports, both inside and outside of the company. Now our task at hand to win back their support”.

Andrew Mason was a “quirky”, lighthearted CEO. His playful responses in interviews gave him as much presence as the company itself. However, with the company offering a service easily emulated by others, a “costly international expansion” and a “lost [of] three quarters of its value since its November 2011 initial public offering”, Groupon’s amazing reputation and performance faltered. The media response is that the firing is not a surprise and more of a relief for the company and investors.

Yahoo Stands by Their CEO's Faulty Résumé

Yahoo is now in a fight with one of his largest shareholders over the faulty résumé of its chief executive and board member. "Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson's resume  'error' could get him booted" by Martha C. White of MSNBC.com reports that Hedge fund Third Point LLC, the largest shareholder, found that CEO Scott Thompson lied about holding two bachelor degrees- he has one. Yahoo’s response to the finding was to release this statement: “This in no way alters the fact that Mr. Thompson is a highly qualified executive with a successful track record leading large consumer technology companies”.

Third Point’s response to the statement was a “letter to Yahoo on Friday calling for the ouster of Thompson along with board member and search committee chair Patti Hart". The letter, written by CEO of Third Point Daniel S. Loeb to the Board, made is clear that the shareholder felt that Thompson and Hart lacked integrity and that Yahoo’s response was unacceptable. A few quotes from the letter:

“Yahoo!s initial response yesterday to Third Point’s identification of material inaccuracies in both CEO Scott Thompson’s and Director Patti Hart’s education record was insulting to shareholders”

“…Yahoo!s response ‘confirming’ that Ms. Hart ‘specialized’ in Marketing and Economics, rather than her degree in such subjects (as Ms. Hart has asserted in filings for years) is a similar canard. A ‘specialty’ is not a major. It is not a ‘minor’”

Sony Announces Next CEO

Yesterday, Sony announced a replacement for its current CEO. On April 1rst, current CEO Howard Stringer will be replaced by Kazuo Hirai. “Sony names Hirai to replace Stringer as CEO” by Yoko Kubota and Liana B. Baker of reuters.com reports “Hirai [is] a 28-year company veteran known for overseeing the phenomenal rise of the PlayStation gaming system in the United States”.

Hirai’s future seemed to be sealed when “he was promoted to head the company’s consumer products and service businesses, which produce the bulk of Sony’s $85 billion annual sales”.

The main goal for Hirai will to make the company better to compete with other competitors such as Apple and Samsung. Part 1 of the goal is to integrate all Sony entertainment entities to provide a fluid experience. Part 2 would be to reinvigorate the TV division.  The article reports, “Sony exited an LCD panel joint venture with Samsung” and also lost TV sales. Their losses are “expected to show a net loss for the fourth year in a row”

Reuters provided a small statement from Hirai:

“The path we must take is clear… To drive the growth of our core electronics businesses – primarily digital imaging, smart mobile and games; to turn around the television business; and to accelerate the innovation that enables us to create new business domains”

As CEO, Howard Stringer is known for "cost cutting" in the company. In 2011, he was criticized for his handling of the PlayStation security breach - it took him 6 days to announce the breach to customers and revealed that he wasn't aware of a previous breach. Hirai's 28-year experience within the company and technological knowledge of the products would make him a more knowledgeable and prepared CEO than Stringer.

Research In Motion co-CEOs Step Down

Last night, Research In Motion announced their co-CEOs, Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie have stepped down from their positions. I found the news via @CNBC tweet. RIM has had a very rough 2011 and since the emergence of the iPhone, they have yet to reclaim their previous glory. This is not to say that the iPhone blew the BlackBerry out of the water – instead, RIM didn’t move at the faster pace of the market to produce better software and phones to compete. At the end of 2011, investors, news commentators/outlets, and the public were calling for major change in the company. Most felt that the change should come from the top. Thus, it is no surprise that Lazaridis and Balsillie have “decided” to step down.

According “RIM Has a New CEO, But Does It Have a New Game Plan?” by Jon Fortt of CNBC.com and “BlackBerry maker’s CEOs hand reins to insider” by Alastair Sharp of Reuters.com, Thorsten Heins is the new CEO. Sharp reports Heins is “a former Siemens AG executive who has risen steadily through RIM’s upper management ranks since joining the Canadian company in late 2007”.

The plan for RIM is not clear. Fortt (CNBC.com) reports that Heins doesn’t plan to change much. Fortt quotes Heins saying:

“I would tell investors that this change already has happened on the product side, and might not be what the public was demanding. But you cannot just fall for public opinion because sometimes the Street is right, sometimes the Street is wrong. We have to do what is right for the company”.

Sharp (Reuters.com) reports “Heins said he would push for more rigorous product development and place a greater emphasis on executing on the company’s marketing and development plans.” Also, Sharp reports Heins is searching for a new Chief Marketing Officer “to improve advertising and other communication with consumers.”

A new marketing strategy is a vital step for RIM to embrace a new image along with a new CEO. If Heins really did make the statement reported by Fortt, he just made his first PR mistake. This new CEO announcement is suppose to breath life into RIM, not make the audience think things will stay the same. Things should only stay the same if it’s working and whatever strategy RIM was on for the past year failed. The Reuters article gives me some hope that RIM is moving towards some change for the better.

Biggest Steve Jobs' Lesson: Perseverance

Wednesday, Steve Jobs passed away. He is the co-founder and former CEO of Apple, which he resigned from on August 24. He is the innovator behind some of the most revolutionary products of our time. There is a lot that can be said about Jobs; his history vast and filled with many lessons about business and ambition. But I’m not going to write about his entire life because many journalists have done a great job of doing this so far. Instead, I would like to reflect on the biggest lesson Steve Jobs experience has taught me: perseverance.

I was a freshman in high school when the iPod came out. At that time, I didn’t quite know who Steve Jobs was and lately, within the past few years, I have reveled in his presentations and the pieces of his past that I discovered. The most surprising part of his past is to learn he was ousted from the company he co-founded, Apple.  Apple was created in 1976. After some success, in 1983, Jobs hired John Sculley as CEO, an executive from Pepsico, hoping for a more refined managerial contribution.  In 1985, Sculley led the board to fire Jobs.

The college-dropout who started his dream was now shut out from that dream. There is no doubt that Jobs felt humiliated. In his 2005 commencement address to Stanford he stated:

I really didn’t know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down – that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me… I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley.

What did he do? Well, he placed one foot in front of the other and moved forward. Steve Jobs created NeXT Inc. The company introduced a computer with great software and as WSJ.com notes “its operating system would eventually become the foundation for OS X, the software backbone of today’s Macs, after Apple purchased NeXT for $400 million in December 1996.” At that time, Apple was suffering with “nearly $2 billion in losses in two years”. Thus, Jobs was brought back in 1997 as CEO with a $1 a year salary.

When he returned back to Apple, he restructured the company to focus on software and innovative products with great aesthetics. The iMac came out in 1998, the iPod in 2001, the iTunes Music Store in 2003 and the iPhone in 2007. The rest as we should all know is successful history and profitable present.

After years to reflect on his on past, this is what Jobs had to say about learning to deal with a very public firing:

I didn’t see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life…

I’m pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn’t been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith. I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love.

As a 25-year-old woman faced with pressure to be everything the world often stereotypical defines as success, I already feel like I have moments of regret regarding my education and career. But then, I read about Steve Jobs and it lets me know that the best way to deal with failure, embarrassment, and dark moments is to move forward. Tap into the part of you that refuses to let others see you fall. I’m not saying that all of us will get fired and then rehired to start multi-billion dollar companies - there is only one Steve Jobs. The lesson is that whatever life has for you, you can still find as long as you don’t let bad experiences stop you. The best revenge is success from perseverance. The best legacy is picking yourself up.

If I could only thank Steve Jobs for one thing, it would be for teaching us a great lesson on perseverance. He will be missed immensely and never forgotten.

Innovator Steve Jobs Resigns as CEO from Apple

Wednesday, the business world was hit with the sad, but not surprising, news that Steve Jobs, co founder and CEO of Apple, is resigning as CEO. Jobs wrote an official resignation letter – NYtimes.com has the letter here. He will move on to serve as chairman of the board. His successor is COO Tim Cook who has served as CEO during Jobs’ previous two medical leaves. Cook joined Apple 13 years ago after Jobs came back in 1996.

The worry and the sadness of Jobs' resignation is rightfully due to his extraordinary innovative insight and leadership that most believe are irreplaceable. Jobs is the man behind Apple’s greatest products: the iPod, which lead to more convenient mobile music and the recording industry compromising on licensing music; the iPhone, which jumpstarted the smartphone era; and the iPad, which no other company has yet to reach it’s volume of sales. Whether you own any of these products or prefer PCs and android, no person could deny the power of Steve Jobs and the amazing mind he possesses to create products that have revolutionized technology. This is not to say he is the only person contributing to this era of technology but when he creates his product, his energy and faith in it is untouchable.

I have not seen any other major CEO create the kind of passion and anticipation behind products in the same fashion as Jobs. I utterly believe that he loves his creations. His presentations are detailed, enthralling, and, most importantly, about the product. Jobs may personally prefer the simplicity of jeans and black tops, but it seems it’s his way of taking attention off of him and placing it on the product. Nevertheless, his product showmanship has branded Jobs with Apple products.

RIM Cuts Profit Expectations by 30% and Shares Drop 16%

Research In Motion, maker of BlackBerry, did not have a good Thursday. According to “RIM shares sink 16% on slashed outlook and layoff plans” by David Goldman of CNNmoney.com, the company stated the next BlackBerry operating system, BB7, would be delayed until August and  “the company drastically cut its full-year profit expectations by 30%”. As the title states, the market response to the news was a significant share drop.

The article reports the company’s first quarter sales missed expected forecasts and last quarter, the company sold “a disappointing 13.2 million devices last quarter, including a measly 500,000 PlayBook tablet”. The delay of BB7 is disappointing news as the company see it as the solution to its lower than expected sales. The BlackBerry Torch, the last RIM BlackBerry product, is almost a year old and the PlayBook hasn’t sold well. The new OS is expected to bring RIM "up-to-date".

J.C. Penney Hires Apple Exec as Its CEO

JcPenney Co Inc is hoping for a massive retail makeover. The architect of this makeover will be Ron Johnson, senior vice president of retail of Apple. In November he will be J.C. Penney’s new CEO, replacing Myron Ullman. According to “Penney Snags Apple Retail Executive as Next CEO” by Phil Wahba and Poornima Gupta of Reuters.com, the news was great for the stock – “Penney’s market value rose more than $1 billion on the announcement, with its shares adding $5.26, or 17.5 percent, to close at $35.37.”

J.C. Penney has been trying to get Johnson for some time. The largest shareholders of the company wanted to bring Johnson on as an executive years ago. The allure is that Johnson is really dedicated to retail and its consumer and previously worked at Target before working at Apple.  Under Johnson, “Apple opened its first retail outlet in May 2001” and, as most of you know, the Apple store is incredible. It has a great décor and is recognizable and significant to its overall brand.  A former Apple executive had this to say about Johnson:

“From day one, and ever since, I have never heard Ron refer to somebody coming into the store as anything other than a guest… When you hear him talk, you feel like you are talking to somebody who was running a Four Seasons hotel as opposed to somebody who was running retail.”

The article reports J.C. Penney’s goals are to integrate technology into the retail space, reach out to different demographics, and become known as a trendy “budget conscious” store.  Johnson’s appointment will hopefully remake and rebrand J.C. Penney and in the meantime Apple is looking for his replacement.

Steve Jobs Surprises Everyone at iPad 2 Event

How great is Steve Jobs? He goes on medical leave and then shows up today at the unveiling of the iPad 2. It shocked everyone. Many people were standing by for any news of the event. At the appearance of Steve Jobs, it became breaking news, and apple’s stock rose by $3. Why did Jobs show up? According to the New York Times, Jobs responded “We’ve been working on this product for a while and I just didn’t want to miss today”

His appearance is significant as he adds power to the iPad 2’s unveiling. Considering other tablets have entered the market, Apple is facing competition this time around. Jobs, who is amazing at promoting his products, wanted to aid his product in the fight to be at the top. While Jobs might stay on medical leave, it's clear that he’s thinking about his company and products.

Steve Jobs is a great example of a CEO and innovator passionate about his business. The most important image of a business is its leader. A leader passive about its brand will never have a brand as good, powerful as one with an active, supportive leader behind it. The lesson from Jobs: Know your product, love your product, and stand by your product. 

Time Inc. CEO Jack Griffin Fired After Less Than 6 Months

It only takes six months to test a CEO? Jack Griffin was hired in August as Chairman and Chief Executive of Time Inc. Yesterday, it was announced he’s been fired. According to “Time Inc CEO Jack Griffin Ousted” by Jennifer Saba, the problem is he clashed with the company. The statement from Time Warner Inc Chief Jeff Bewkes:

“Although Jack is an extremely accomplished executive, I concluded that his leadership style and approach did not mesh with Time Inc and Time Warner”

Apparently, his employees didn’t like his leadership style. There were “behaviors” that drove his image as a bad leader. The fear was he would encourage executives to leave; instead, the company let him go. I would hope Time Inc made an effort to speak with Griffin about his leadership style or to “make it work”. Either he was a horrible boss not willing to change or had a style not willing to be accepted by executives. This ousting leaves me with the question: Was the board/ company not aware of his leadership style when they placed him as CEO? Time Warner should have known; I would assume the company/ board has a detailed process for picking a CEO, including taking a look at their leadership styles used in their previous positions. Six months does not seem like enough time to work with a CEO. 

Borders Books To File for Bankruptcy & it's No Surprise

This week the business world is anticipating the official bankruptcy filing from Borders Group, Inc. Considering within the last two to three months the company has experienced financial problems, Bankruptcy is not a surprise All bookstores have experienced a loss in sales from the rise of the eBook market. Borders and Barnes & Nobles are considered the two major book retailers. Barnes & Nobles has been able to stay afloat and Borders has declined. I read “Borders Eyes Store Closings and Liquidations” by Tom Hals and Jennifer Saba and “Chapter 11 for Borders, New Chapter for Books” by Mike Spector and Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg.

Borders has not paid 6 major publishers and owes millions of dollars. Recently the company acquired financing but with tough stipulations that they would have to come up with some capital. The company’s idea was to ask publishers to turn their debt into loans. Now, the proposal has been denied and bankruptcy is the only option. The company will be able to operate after filing but will clearly lose stores and employees.

 From reading about the bookstore and my experience as an avid reader, three things have the hurt company: competition from major retailers entering the book market, the delay of the company entering the e-book market, and the change of executives.

Google CEO Steps Down, Founder Steps Up

“Day-to-day adult supervision is no longer needed” is a very short explanation of the change happening at Google. Yesterday, the general press reported CEO Eric E. Schmidt will be stepping down and co-founder Larry Page will take the spot. Schmidt’s response to the newsbreak was the opening quote via twitter; alluding to the purpose of his 10 year appointment and his resignation from the position. According to “In Google Shake-Up, an Effort to Revive Start-Up Spark” by Claire Cain Miller and Miguel Helft, Schmidt was appointed to bring more management to an environment run by the young founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin.

Schmidt brought management experience while Page was president of products and Brin was president of technology. The article reports throughout the 10 years, the founders sometimes clashed with Schmidt. In the past couple of years, his grown-up management style may have driven away young talented engineers looking for a company still motivated like a start up. But he did provide a professional model of running a company and helped Google to its success and increased value.

This CEO change may not be about hostility. Page and Brin were in their late 20s when they founded Google and are now in their late 30s. If Schmidt’s tweet was written with honesty, then this is about allowing grown ups to be grown ups and show what they have learned from Schmidt.  Schmidt will not be leaving the company; he will be the executive chairman when Page steps up in April.