GROUPON GETS CHIEF

Groupon has named co-founder Eric Lefkofsky, 43, as CEO and board member Ted Leonis as chairman. Both had been serving in the co-CEO capacity.

Lefkofsky assumed the duties of CEO Andrew Mason following his departure earlier this year.

On the financial front, the online deals company reported a $5.5M Q2 loss vs. a year ago $33.5M profit.

Revenue rose seven percent to $608M.

Lefkoksky believes Groupon "continues to grain traction in mobile as nearly half of its North American transactions came from mobile in June."

More than 50M people have downloaded Groupon’s apps worldwide.

KHAHAIFA TAKES EDITOR POST AT SENTINEL

Avido Khahaifa has taken the editor post at the Orlando Sentinel as Mark Russell exits after a three-year stint.

The eight-year veteran of the paper is upped from the senior VP and content director post.

Publisher Howard Greenberg thanked Russell for his dedicated service and newsroom leadership during the past nine years.

He credited Russell for "moving us to a more digital focus while maintaining our traditional of strong journalism."

Tribune Co. owns the Sentinel.

NYT IS NOT FOR SALE

The New York Times publisher Pinch Sulzberger and company vice chairman Michael Golden said the paper is not for sale in the aftermath of the Graham family selling the Washington Post to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

The statement came following a closed door meeting of members of the Sulzberger/Ochs family, which controls the Times.

"The Times is not for sale and the trustees of the Ochs-Sulzberger Trust and the rest of the family are united in our commitment to work together with the company's board, senior management and employees to lead the New York Times forward into our global and digital future," said the statement.

Sulzberger and Golden expressed strong supports of NYT president Mark Thompson, quest to generate black ink by expanding "investment internationally, in video, in paid products and in brand extensions."

LEVISON JUMPS FROM FISHBOWL TO VH1

Susan Levison has joined Viacom’s VHI cable unit as executive VP for original programming & production. She reports to president Tom Calderone.

The former executive VP/creative chief at FishBowl Worldwide Media is now in charge of east/west coast development as well as celebrity talent. She is based in Los Angeles.

At FishBowl, Levison and her team sold unscripted and scripted shows to Bravo, Yahoo, NBC, Comedy Central and MTV.

Earlier, she was senior VP-comedy development at Fox Broadcasting, working on "Family Guy," "The Cleveland Show" and "Bob Burgers."

Calderone said in a statement that Levison's "proven expertise in crafting engaging stories with strong characters in reality formats and scripted dramas and comedies makes her a perfect match for VH1 and our successful mix of music, pop culture, humor and nostalgia programming."