The company that supposedly turned down a $6 billion acquisition offer from Google has now given another sign that it has some very interesting financial plans. Groupon announced today that it’s secured Jason Child, a high-ranking exec at Amazon, as its chief financial officer.
Child held the title "Vice President of Finance" for Amazon’s international business prior to this move, and that role put him in within a department worth about $14 billion. So Child has valuable experience with large, public companies that operate in more than one country.
Child has lots of experience, too. His LinkedIn profile indicates that he started doing financial work for Amazon in April of 1999, and before that, spent seven years as a consulting manager at the famous accounting firm Arthur Andersen.
All of this could point towards Groupon wanting to go public. An IPO would give the company a shot at growing beyond Google’s offer, at all, and Groupon couldn’t (or at least shouldn’t) have tried to go public without an industry veteran guiding the way.
We’ll of course see what happens.
Anyway, for the time being, Child said in a statement, "Groupon is one of the most amazing businesses I have ever seen. I am thrilled to join a great team that is attacking one of the biggest opportunities in e-commerce today."