Margo Georgiadis, who was appointed chief operating officer of Groupon just five months ago, is leaving the company to return to Google, where she previously served as vice-president of global sales operations, according to the Wall Street Journal.  This is the second COO to depart Groupon this year: Rob Solomon left in March, for similarly opaque reasons. The train of executive departures, and widely-reported financial difficulties (including a series of quarterly losses) all call into question the company's stability,  potentially jeopardizing its plan for an IPO sometime later this year.

eBay is launching "World's Fastest Car Show" – an original video series for the eBay Motors website and mobile application. The show, the first originally produced media content for eBay Motors, is also the first to be featured in any of eBay's mobile applications according to the company. The series is hosted by former 24 Hours of Le Mans winner and FIA GT2 World Champion Justin Bell. Steve Yankovich, VP of mobile at eBay says the goal is to "interact with these enthusiasts on an even deeper level by providing compelling, meaningful content within the app itself, and also …

With front-of-packaging labeling systems the hot topic in the food/beverage industries, a new smartphone app that claims to enable users to simply scan/take a snapshot of product barcodes to get all of the (customizable) nutritional information they want seems worthy of note. According to its developer/marketer, Honest Label Foods, LLC, the "Honest Label Foods Scanner" lets users (including those on restricted or specialized diets) select ingredients they want to avoid, which are flagged by a warning system. It also lets the user customize calorie and other nutrient parameters based on their own needs, rather than the serving size used …

Publicis Groupe's MediaVest laid off 30 staffers this week or 4% of its workforce, the agency has confirmed. Internally, the reduction is being described as a "reorganization" that has more to do with better aligning staff talents and capabilities with client needs, and not about the agency's financial performance or the general economy. The agency issued the following statement about the staff cutback: "MediaVest routinely evaluates all facets of its business across capability, approaches, product, and staffing to evolve ahead of the pace of change, drive growth, and deliver on clients' short- and long-term goals. Guided by these …

WPP's Maxus has been awarded media planning and buying duties for financial firm Barclays after a formal review, according to sources. Estimated annual ad spending on the account is approximately $65 million, per sources. The assignment covers multiple markets, including the UK and the U.S. The Barclays award extends a win streak for Maxus that blossomed this summer with two huge assignments, including the domestic NBC Universal TV and Universal Studios film accounts, and the S.C. Johnson media business.

Nissan has tapped Fred Deperez as director, Chief Marketing Manager for Nissan Marketing, effective Oct. 3. Deperez will report to Jon Brancheau, VP Marketing, Nissan North America, and be responsible for leading lifecycle product marketing efforts supporting Nissan's Versa, Sentra, cube, JUKE and Quest models. Deperez was most recently head of marketing for Chrysler's Dodge brand. He also lead corporate brand strategy, and global sales and product training as well as global communications for Jeep.

The Federal Communications Commission's controversial net neutrality rules will go into effect on Nov. 20, unless blocked by a court. The regulations, which were approved by a 3-2 vote last year, prevent all broadband providers -- wireline and wireless -- from blocking or degrading traffic. The rules also prohibit wireline providers from engaging in unreasonable discrimination. The regulations are expected to be published on Friday, and will take effect around 60 days later. Verizon and MetroPCS already asked a federal appellate court to declare the rules invalid on the ground that the FCC lacks authority over broadband. The court …

Regional cellular company Cellular South is rebranding itself as C Spire, touting a more personalized approach to wireless services. The name change, which takes effect Monday, is meant to reflect a change in the way the company provides its services to customers, including personalization to apps and content that fits their needs and personalities. The new service will be powered by a proprietary system called Pulse that enables the company to better understand the relationship with this customers. The newly rebranded company will also begin offering a new loyalty program, called Percs, which will reward customers for actions …

Nike is readying the LeBron 9, which it says is its first basketball shoe to combine its Flywire technology and Hyperfuse construction, launching in the U.S. October 15 in a limited edition "Cannon" colorway. (Select college colors will be available beginning October 14, and the primary black/red/white model on October 25.) This will be the first LeBron james shoe offered on its NIKEiD.com site, with previews slated to begin Oct. 9. As part of the launch, the shoe will be crossmarketed with the videogame NBA 2K12, from 2K Sports.

September is looking to be a better month than last for new-vehicle retail sales, per predictions from J.D. Power & Associates. The firm's Power Information Network shows that this month is heading toward 842,400 units, which will be the first time the retail selling rate would be above 10 million units since the 10.8 million-unit rate in April. "Coming off a solid Labor Day sale, retail sales exhibited unexpected strength in the second week of September, as the recovering inventory levels have helped to bring buyers back into the market," said Jeff Schuster, executive director of global forecasting at …