You’ve probably heard of Eric Lefkofsky if you’ve ever been interested in Groupon. The serial entrepreneur has a long history of scamming investors.
There is a lot of media coverage on his illegal activities as well. However, it’s quite hard to find.
The following review will help you figure out whether Eric Lefkofsky is worth your trust or not:
What Eric Lefkofsky Claims to Be:
Eric Lefkofsky is the CEO and founder at Tempus, a main supplier of technology-enabled precision medicine solutions. He is an establishing partner of Lightbank, an endeavor fund investing in disruptive troublesome innovation organizations.
He is likewise the co-founder and Chairman of Groupon, a main provider of integrated media procurement technology; technology-enabled transportation, Echo Global Logistics (NASDAQ: ECHO), and logistics outsourcing firm; InnerWorkings (NASDAQ: INWK).
He co-seats the Lefkofsky Family Foundation with his better half Liz to propel high-influence initiatives that improve lives in the networks served.
Lefkofsky fills in as a Trustee of Lurie Kids’ Hospital Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago, The museum of Science and Industry, and World Business Chicago.
He is likewise the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theater Organization. Lefkofsky is an assistant lecturer at the University of Chicago and the creator of Accelerated Disruption: Figuring out the True Speed of Innovation. He moved on from the University of Michigan and accepted his Juris specialist at the University of Michigan Law school.
Deceitful History of Eric Lefkofsky
10 years before he helped tracked down Groupon – the internet-based everyday arrangements webpage that knocked some people’s socks off last week when it petitioned for an Initial public offering esteeming itself at $30bn – Eric Lefkofsky ran a startup called Starbelly.com.The Chicago-based Starbelly was charged as a “B2B” outfit, offering a commercial center where organizations could orchestrate to convey special products. In 2000, the organization offered itself to old-school physical retailer Ha-Lo for $240 million.
Starbelly officers expected lead positions inside Ha-Lo – Lefkofsky was head working officer – and somewhat more than a year after the fact, the organization failed. Ha-Lo and Starbelly confronted various class-activity misrepresentation claims from investors, and one suit, which was at last settled, turned up messages Lefkofsky had shipped off his partners.
According to the court document, he said, “let’s begin having some good times … let’s get crazy … let’s report everything … let’s be Ridiculously certain in our gauges … let’s take this thing to the limit … on the off chance that we get wacked on the ride down – who cares a lot … An opportunity to get extremist is currently … we don’t have anything to lose…,”.
A decade on, as Groupon looks for an Initial public offering, this email continues to spring up. The Monetary Times implied it in a piece last week, and it has now diverted up in reports from Bloomberg television (YouTube video) and Fortune.
The particular email was echoed – to some extent in little part – by proclamations Lefkofsky made last week that appeared to break the SEC’s “peaceful period” rule for IPOs.
“I’m going to be in technology for a long time,” Eric Lefkofsky said Bloomberg on 3rd June– a day after Groupon filed for an IPO – going on to refer to two other companies he looked for, InnnerWorkings and Echo. “I’m going to start a lot of companies. These are not at all sham companies. These are fantastic businesses. InnerWorkings is beneficial. Echo is effective. Groupon is going to be fiercely profitable.”
Since Eric Lefkofsky utilized such language during the peaceful period, Groupon might be compelled to re-document for its Initial public offering. Yet, independently, some have raised worries over the similitude between the explanation and that decade-old email – and, all the more for the most part, over the lawsuit-ridden business history of Lefkofsky and his old school pal Brad Keywell, who helped to establish Starbelly.com. Eric Lefkosky, Groupon’s director, claims an almost 22 percent pre-initial public offering stake in the organization. Keywell possesses a seven percent stake.
Lefkofsky’s email is a lot of characteristic of now is the right time. back then, numerous tech business people were presumably saying a lot of exactly the same thing. Also, indeed, claims are an undeniable piece of carrying on with work in the advanced world. Yet, Marc Morgenstern, overseeing accomplice of San Francisco-based venture company Blue Plateau Accomplices – and who is likewise a legal counselor – lets The Register know that potential Groupon financial backers ought to essentially think about the business history of the organization’s originators.
Details on Eric Lefkofksy of Tempus Inc
Eric Lefkofsky, who is Groupon’s chairman, has a great history of financial scandal.
There was a time when he sold a startup named Starbelly to a brick-and-mortar company that later on went bankrupt.
In a claim that followed, an email from Lefkofsky surfaced. In it he stated: “Let’s begin having a great time… let’s get astounding… how about we report everything… how about we stunningly sure in our forecasts… let’s take this thing to the limit… on the off chance that we get wacked [sic] on the ride down-who cares a lot… An opportunity TO GET Extremist IS Presently… We don’t HAVE Anything TO LOSE…”
Years after, Eric Lefkofsky employed a provisional laborer named Andrew Mason.
In Mason, he found a guileless virtuoso and gave him the cash to start everybody’s thought process would be a real business.
However at that Mason coincidentally found a business with a violently developing top-line (not a primary concern or even center line), and – so trust the conspiracy theorists – Lefkofsky saw one more chance to be “stunningly certain” for benefit, regardless of whether it implied fudging bookkeeping to a great extent.
So Groupon called itself productive when it wasn’t. It moved advertising costs into capital expenses. It befuddled net and gross incomes. Furthermore, that is exactly the very thing it got found doing.
Furthermore, Groupon’s line was: oh no, that was a moronic error. And keeping in mind that most of us rubes accepted them, connivance scholars say Groupon’s kin are in fact “imbecilic like a fox.”
In this view, the explanation Eric Lefkofsky demands that Artisan be President is that Bricklayer is youthful, guileless, and conceivably inclined to guiltless errors.
These individuals accept the explanation Google executive Margo Georgiadis just put in a couple of months at the organization is that she came in, glanced around, freaked out, and got out.
These dubious people will say: Eric Lefkofsky and company might have accepted they were twisting principles to get Groupon to a place where it could turn into a real business with clean bookkeeping, yet that is still misrepresentation.
Furthermore, didn’t Bernie Madoff begin his ponzi scheme as a legitmate speculation store?
Conclusion
Based on the above points, it’s clear that there are is a lot of negative press about Eric Lefkofsky. He is not as reliable as he markets himself to be.
The views and opinions expressed in these articles are those of the source Gripeo.com and do not necessarily reflect the official position of ‘Cyber Combat,’ which shall not be held liable for any inaccuracies presented. The information provided within this article is for general informational purposes only. While we try to keep the information up-to-date and correct, there are no representations or warranties, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability of the information in this article for any purpose.
This article is syndicated automatically through a third-party agency from Gripeo.com.
To view the original article at Gripeo.com, you can visit https://www.gripeo.com/eric-lefkofsky/.
