Groupon's Andrew Mason Admits to 'Honest' Mistakes

Andrew Mason, founder and chief executive officer of Groupon, sat down for an interview with 60 Minutes’ Lesley Stahl (transcript here) Sunday night, speaking at length for the first time since the company went public.

He discusses his own surprise at how the company grew to a $15 billion company with 10,000 employees in 46 countries in just three years. The interview gets into—albeit not very deeply— some of the controversy surrounding the daily deal site's rapid growth, including the fact that it doesn’t make any money yet, and why some analysts looking at its accounting have said the company was “unviable” and even a “Ponzi scheme.”

As previously reported in a preview of the interview, Mason’s response was that the skepticism rose because the business model is new and "the big thing about Groupon is just people had never seen anything grow quite so fast.”

Here are some of the highlights from the full interview:

1. Mistakes made: Mason admits to making mistakes, among them what 60 Minutes called “accounting tricks” that made their huge marketing costs disappear at least on paper. Their unusual accounting, flagged by the Securities and Exchange Commission, made it look as if they made $60 million in 2010, when they actually lost $420 million.

In response to the revised revenue figures, Mason said that he didn’t think it was fair to say that the company made anything but an honest mistake.

"Smart people can get this stuff wrong," Mason said. "We're inventing a new industry. Like, if we were smart, evil people, we would be more cunning and subtle in our evil ways."

2. A whole lot of writers: To prevent people from getting bored with the daily emails, Groupon employs 400 writers— which as Stahl points out is “more than most newsrooms”— to make sure that the e-mails feature the company’s own brand of absurdist humor.

“We do realize that we're sending people an email every single day, and that could get annoying,” Mason says. “So there's gotta be something else there that keeps you engaged and keeps you from un-subscribing.”

What’s more the company is now tailoring its offerings by age and gender.

3. A little stock-price obsessed: On the first day that Groupon went public, Mason’s own net worth on paper jumped to $1.3 billion. So does he check the stock prices regularly?

“I checked it once yesterday afternoon,” Mason told Stahl, adding a bit of his trademark humor. “And then, I felt dirty and I haven't checked it again since. Do you know?”

The stock price has been fluctuating up and down from its initial public offering price of $20 per share.

4. Dress code revisited: Mason, who wore only his underwear in an infamous YouTube yoga video next to the Christmas tree that Stahl plays in the piece, has, has it seems, tried to try to strike a balance between his goofy personality and seeming not ready for prime time as CEO. He pulled on an Armani suit the day his company went public, and opted for an untucked button-down shirt and jeans for his 60 Minutes interview.

“I asked if I should” wear a suit and tie for 60 Minutes, Mason said, adding that asking the question is something he wouldn’t have done in the past. Now, that's growth.

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Teresa Novellino writes for Portfolio.com