Marc Samwer, one of the founders of Rocket Internet, has departed the top international role at Groupon. Rocket and its corporate backers own a large stake in Groupon, after a daily deals company it set up, German-based CityDeal, was sold to Groupon.
Groupon appointed Veit Dengler as its senior vice president, international, to take over from Samwer. Dengler was previously at US-based computer company Dell, and before that at US-based consumer goods company Procter and Gamble and US-based consultancy firm McKinsey.
Samwer has left Groupon at a torrid time for the company. The group’s share price has dived 28.7% in April to Friday’s close of $13.12 per share, after the company revealed at the end of last month a "material weakness" in its internal controls and revised downwards its fourth quarter revenues and revised upwards its fourth costs.
Groupon said Samwer’s departure was part of "a long-planned transition". Andrew Mason, chief executive of Groupon added: "Marc and his brother Oliver built an extraordinary team that’s grown our International business to account for more than half of our revenues."
CityDeal, as well as being backed by Rocket Internet, founded byMarc Samwer, and his brother Oliver, was also invested in by eVenture Capital Partners, which has Germany-based retailer Otto Group as a cornerstone investor, and Holtzbrinck Ventures, the former corporate venturing unit of Germany-based media company Georg von Holtzbrinck Publishing Group, which became independent in January 2011. CityDeal was also backed by Sweden-based investment group Investment Kinnevik.