It's Official: Groupon Has Hired Margo Georgiadis as COO

Groupon has officially announced it has hired Google’s VP of Global Sales Margo Georgiadis to be COO, but we already knew that since Google confirmed it earlier today.

Georgiadis will oversee the company’s global sales, marketing, and operations, which now includes 7,000 employees and spans 46 countries. Georgiadis is conveniently already based in Chicago, where the social-buying site is located.

In a statement, CEO Andrew Mason said the obvious: “Margo is a strong leader with a passion for helping small business owners and consumers. We’re thrilled to have her on our team.”

Groupon previously turned down a $6 billion buy-out offer from Google to purchase the three-year-old company, and now it’s stealing some of its top employees, too.

Georgiadis wasn’t the first. In February, Groupon hired Jason Harinstein, who was Google’s director of corporate development. (In other tit for tat between the two companies, Google announced a near identical Groupon clone in multiple cities today.)

The high-level appointments are intended to solidify the company’s management team ahead of its frequently talked about, but not yet public, IPO. Georgiadis replaces former Groupon COO Rob Solomon, who announced he was stepping down in March.