Originally Syndicated on May 16, 2024 @ 6:26 pm
Eric Lefkofsky is the founder as well as the president and CEO of Tempus, a leading provider of medical precision solutions facilitated by automation. He is a well-known partner of Lightbank, a venture capital firm that funds disruptive businesses and troublesome inventors. In addition, he is the chairman and co-founder of Echo Global Logistics (NASDAQ: ECHO), a technology-enabled transportation company; InnerWorkings, a logistics outsourcing company; and Groupon, a leading provider of integrated media procurement technologies.
Together with his partner Liz, he co-seats the Lefkofsky Family Foundation, which supports high-impact initiatives that enhance the lives of those who are served by the networks. World Business Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago, Lurie Children’s Hospital Chicago, as well as The Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago all have Lefkofsky on their board of directors.
Additionally, he serves as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Steppenwolf Theater Organization in Chicago. Assistant lecturer at the University of Chicago as well as author of Accelerated Disruption: Determining the True Speed of Innovation, Lefkofsky. He transferred from the University of Michigan to the University of Michigan Law School, where he earned his Juris Specialist degree.
The Untruthful Background of Eric Lefkofsky
Ten years before assisting in the acquisition of Groupon, an online marketplace for daily deals that stunned many last week with its initial public offering valuation of $30 billion, Eric Lefkofsky managed the startup Starbelly.com.Starbelly, a Chicago-based company, was classified as a “B2B” entity because it provided a commercial hub where businesses could coordinate the delivery of specialized products. The organization made a $240 million offer to traditional physical retailer Ha-Lo in 2000.
Starbelly officers anticipated leadership roles within After Lefkofsky, who served as the chief working officer, abandoned Ha-Lo, the organization ceased operations approximately one year later. Investors lodged numerous class-activity misrepresentation claims against Ha-Lo and Starbelly. Messages that Lefkofsky had dispatched to his partners were uncovered in one suit, which was ultimately settled.
As per the court document, he expressed the following: “Let us commence an enjoyable experience… Let us become inebriated… Let us disclose everything… Let us be exceedingly certain in our gauges… Let us push this to its utmost potential… It is of little consequence if we are impaired during the descent… Who cares?” “At this time, there is no opportunity to become extremist because we have nothing to lose…”
As Groupon prepares for an initial public offering a decade later, this email continues to resurface. It was alluded to in an article published by The Monetary Times last week, and subsequent reports from Bloomberg Television (YouTube video) and Fortune have resolved the matter.
The specific email was partially replicated by statements Lefkofsky issued the previous week that seemed to violate the SEC’s “peaceful period” regulation for initial public offerings (IPOs).
Lefkofsky told Bloomberg on June 3, three days after Groupon filed for its initial public offering, “I’m going to be in technology for a long time.” He went on to refer to two other companies he had been considering, InnnerWorkings and Echo. “I intend to found a large number of businesses. These enterprises are anything but shams. These are exceptional enterprises. InnerWorkings is advantageous. Echo is successful. “Groupon will generate enormous profits.”
Given the language employed by Lefkofsky during the period of peace, Groupon could potentially be required to redo the documentation for its initial public offering. However, some have independently expressed concern regarding the resemblance between the explanation and the email from a decade ago, and even more so regarding the business history of Lefkofsky and his former classmate Brad Keywell, who was instrumental in the founding of Starbelly.com, which is rife with litigation. Groupon’s director, Lefkosky, asserts ownership of an almost 22 percent stake in the company before its initial public offering. Keywell holds a seven percent ownership interest.
Numerous aspects of Lefkofsky’s email indicate that the present moment is most suitable. At that time, numerous tech industry professionals were likely expressing essentially the same sentiment. Additionally, claims are an indisputable component of working in the developed world. Nonetheless, Marc Morgenstern, managing partner and legal counsel at Blue Plateau Accomplices, a venture capital firm based in San Francisco, advises The Register that prospective Groupon investors should primarily consider the company’s founders’ business history.
About Eric Lefkofksy of Tempus Inc
Chairman of Groupon Eric Lefkofsky has an extensive track record of financial scandals.
There was a period in time when he divested Starbelly, a startup, to a physical corporation that subsequently declared bankruptcy.
Following this assertion, an email originating from Lefkofsky surfaced. He wrote in it: “Let’s start having a fantastic time. Let’s get incredible and how about we report everything and how about we are absolutely certain in our forecasts let’s push this to its limits, who cares if we get wacked on the way down? Presently, an opportunity exists to become an extremist. “There is nothing that we have to lose.”
Lefkofsky subsequently hired Andrew Mason as a provisional laborer years later.
Mason emerged as an obedient virtuoso, and he invested the capital necessary to initiate a venture that would challenge conventional wisdom.
Nonetheless, Mason fortuitously discovered a company at that moment with a rapidly expanding top line (which was neither a primary concern nor even the center line). Lefkofsky, believing the conspiracy theorists, saw this as one more opportunity to be “stunningly certain” for his benefit, even though it likely entailed substantial bookkeeping fraud.
Thus, Groupon misrepresented its productivity. Advertising expenses were reclassified as capital expenses. Both net and gross incomes were perplexed. Moreover, that is precisely what it was discovered to be doing.
Moreover, the response from Groupon was, “Oh no, that was a moronic error.” Given that the majority of us mere mortals have fallen for them, connivance scholars assert that Groupon’s relatives are, in fact, “as obstinate as a fox.”
According to this viewpoint, Lefkofsky’s justification for Artisan’s candidacy for the presidency is that Bricklayer is young, naive, and potentially prone to committing innocent mistakes.
These individuals accept the justification Google executive Margo Georgiadis recently provided for her two-month tenure at the company: she entered, looked around, became alarmed, and left.
Certain individuals who are skeptical will argue that even if Lefkofsky and the company admitted they were manipulating principles to get Groupon to a point where it could become a legitimate company with accurate books, that is still misrepresentation.
Moreover, Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme did not originate from a legitimate speculation store.
Conclusion
Simply peruse the article in its entirety to learn more about Eric Lefkofsky. Additionally, you will gain a deeper understanding of Tempus’s history of scandals.
