Boston, MA 07/11/2014 (wallstreetpr) – Groupon Inc (NASDAQ:GRPN) is on the move. In fact, it has always been on the move. Besides acquiring rivals and startups to boost its business, the company is also keen on having the best human talents in its leadership ranks. As such, the company just announced new appointment in its South African division.
The company appointed Emilian Popa as its CEO for South Africa. The new leader is a multitalented manager with a record of accomplishments in founding, co-founding and running online retail businesses.
The appointment comes at a time when Groupon Inc (NASDAQ:GRPN) is undergoing a transition whereby it seeks to operate more like a marketplace than just a daily deals website. The company is also trying and rolling out new products to increase user engagement to boost transactions.
Mr. Popa previously held leadership positions at such online companies as Rocket Internet, Twangoo, 5room, Zando and Airizu China among others. He holds MBAs from London School of Business and Columbia Business School.
Groupon founders step down
Groupon Inc (NASDAQ:GRPN)’s unveiling of Mr. Popa coincided with the announcement about the stepping down of two founders of the company.
The company announced that Wayne Gosling and Daniel Guasco will exit the company, having founded Twangoo back in 2010, which was acquired by Groupon six months later. The duo helped grow the service into a multimillion business.
Tonight-only hotel
Groupon Inc (NASDAQ:GRPN) continues to improve its services especially on mobile platforms. Towards that end, the company has announced Tonight-only hotel deals on mobile. That comes nearly a year after it acquired Madrid-based Blink, which provides same-day hotel deal.
The move to launch last-minute night-only hotel deals on mobile puts Groupon Inc (NASDAQ:GRPN) in competition with HotelTonight, which offered almost a similar feature. However, HotelTonight CEO, Sam Shank, played down the entry of Groupon into their market, saying that they will overcome the storm.
Groupon Inc (NASDAQ:GRPN) is fast moving to mobile and the company recently said more than 50 percent of the deals on the platform happen on mobile devices.
