A month before ouster, interview with Groupon CEO Andrew Mason reveals frustration

On February 1st, Elizabeth Spiers met with then-Groupon CEO Andrew Mason for an upcoming feature for Fast Company. 27 days later, Mason was replaced by co-founder and chairman Eric Lefkofsky. Spiers has published part of her interview in the wake of Mason’s ouster, and it paints a portrait of a man who couldn’t transform to fill the expectations of being the CEO of a publicly-traded company. Mason appeared frustrated and on-guard during the interview, according to Spiers, responding to a question about whether he regretted Groupon going public with “I feel like the only reason you could be asking me that question is because you think I’m stupid or because you’re trying to see if I’m going to lie to you.”