Groupon Can Only Go Up From Here

Last Thursday just wasn’t Andrew Mason’s day. He lost his job as the the CEO of Groupon (NASDAQ:GRPN), and watched his company lose nearly a quarter of its market value.

Mason seemed to know the decision was coming. In a note to his employees, he wrote: “After four and a half intense and wonderful years as CEO of Groupon, I’ve decided that I’d like to spend more time with my family. Just kidding — I was fired today.”

Since the announcement of his departure, Groupon shares have rallied, and on Monday afternoon were trading back at $5.42, a gain of 6.27 percent. Mr. Mason, who dodged a potential dismissal in November, will be temporarily replaced by Eric Lefkofsky, Groupon’s executive chairman, and Theodore J. Leonsis, its vice chairman, while they search for a replacement, The New York Times reported.

“If you’re wondering why…you haven’t been paying attention,” Mason added. The former CEO is referencing the steady decline of his company’s stock price over the past several years, punctuated by abysmal results in the most-recent quarter.

Groupon said in its earnings call that first-quarter revenue would be about 10 percent lower than analysts were expecting, among other disappointments. Groupon’s shares swooped as low as $2.63 last November, and spent the time since crawling back up to peak at $5.98 last week — only to plunge back to $4.53 per share the next day…