團購網站鼻祖高朋網首席執行官遭解職

ANDREW MASON (pictured), who was ousted on February 28th as the chief executive of Groupon, the online-coupon company he co-founded, was refreshingly blunt about his fate. Not for him the typical corporate clap-trap about this being the right time to seek a new challenge and to contemplate the future of the cosmos. Here’s an excerpt from his resignation memo:

2月28日，在線團購公司“高朋”解僱了其首席執行官兼創始人安德魯?梅森（如圖），他本人直言不諱的簡述了這一變數。不僅僅是他，外界輿論也隨聲附和地認爲，這是他尋求新挑戰及未來方向的最佳時期。以下是摘自安德魯辭職聲明中的一段話：

“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. If you’re wondering why…you haven’t been paying attention. From controversial metrics in our S1 [a securities filing] to our material weakness to two quarters of missing our own expectations and a stock price that’s hovering around one quarter of our listing price, the events of the last year and a half speak for themselves. As CEO, I am accountable.”

“作爲首席執行官，我在高朋經歷了忙碌又精彩的四年半時光，現決定花更多的時間和家人在一起。這只是開個玩笑-我今天被解僱了。如果你想知道原因，那說明你一直都沒留意過這個問題。從S1文件中備受爭議的業績指標，到兩個季度業績均未能達到公司自己的預期，再到徘徊在上市價格四分之一上下的股價，過去一年半中的所有事情都說明了一切。作爲CEO，我應對此負責。”

Bravo, Mr Mason. Schumpeter salutes you for your honesty, your sense of humour and your desire to “give Groupon a relief valve from the public noise” surrounding your leadership of the company. The only snag is that Groupon is unlikely to get much of a break while it hunts for a new chief executive. (In the interim, it will be run by Eric Lefkofsky and Ted Leonsis, two of its board directors.)

梅森，你說得不錯。熊彼特對你的誠實，你的幽默感，以及你的希望（外界對你領導能力的質疑使高朋有一個喘息時間）都肅然起敬。唯一的困難是，高朋在尋覓新一任執行官的時候，不大可能有太多的喘息機會。（在這期間由兩位董事長埃裏克?萊夫科夫斯基和副董事長泰德?萊昂西斯暫時擔任執行官）

The online-coupon business has become ferociously competitive and people are becoming more picky when it comes to choosing from among the vast number of deals for spa treatments, haircuts and other things that are now available on the internet. The day before Mr Mason’s defenestration, Groupon revealed that it had made an operating loss in its latest financial quarter and its shares fell to $4.44 each in after-hours trading. The firm’s market capitalisation has plummeted from around $13 billion at its flotation in 2011 to around $3 billion today.

在線團購業務的競爭非常激烈，當人們在如養生，美髮及其他網購服務上有更多的選擇機會時，變得越來越挑剔。在梅森遭解僱的前一天，高朋公司透露了最近一個季度的運營虧損，以及股票價格在盤後交易中降至4.44美元。公司的市值從2011年上市約130億美元猛降到現在的30億美元左右。

Groupon did create a new market, but it now faces plenty of copycats such as LivingSocial and has seen behemoths such as Google wade into the business too. Known for “exploding” offers that expired after a short period of time, the firm has been shifting steadily towards deals that stay valid for longer. And it has been building a new business line called Groupon Goods, which sells things such as watches and nail polish at discounted prices.

高朋的確是創造了一個新的市場，但是現在它面對許多如“社會生活”（美國第二大團購網站）的“山寨”公司的競爭，如今像谷歌這樣的大公司也涉足這一行業。衆所周知，高朋公司提供限時的大幅折扣產品，現已穩步趨向建立長期有效的交易關係。該公司現正在建立一個名爲“高朋產品”的新業務部門，以折後價售賣產品，如手錶，指甲油。

Diversifying revenue streams makes sense. But in choosing to sell discounted goods, Groupon has plunged into another area that is intensely competitive. The company has also allowed its costs to balloon, particularly in its international operations. It will need to slash these without damaging growth, which will require a tricky balancing act. The firm’s international revenues fell 16% in its latest quarter.

收益來源多樣化是權宜之計。但是在決定售賣折扣商品時，意味着高朋公司迅速進入另外一個競爭激烈的領域，同時也得容許擴大成本，特別是在國際業務上的成本。公司需要削減成本而不阻礙經濟增長，這一點需要仔細平衡協調。該公司的國際收益在最新季度中下降16%。

In his farewell missive, Mr Mason said his departure would give Groupon “some breathing room to break bad habits”. Perhaps it will, but curing them will not solve Groupon's biggest problem, which is that the underlying economics of its business model have always appeared shaky. The firm's share price may rise in coming weeks on hopes that a new leader can turn it around, but in the long term its stock is unlikely to be a good deal.

在他的辭職公開信中，梅森說，他的離開會使高朋有喘息的機會來糾正舊習。也許會，但是這樣做並不會解決高朋的最大問題，即這種基本的商業模式經濟一直都不太穩定。如果新任執行官能使公司經濟好轉，股價也許會在未來幾個星期裏回升，但是從長期來看，股價不可能有太多的增長。