c.e.o. andrew mason announced he was fired from the company he helped found. his exit comes after a series of challenges, including the most recent quarter. shares lost almost a quarter of their value during the regular session after groupon lost money in the last quarter. profit margins shrank and its outlook was far short of expectations. then after mason's departure was announced, shares were trading around $4.60 share in the extended hours sessn, small rebound frotoday's sell-off. meantime, online music service pandora is trying to manage its costs better. the company will limit its free mobile listening service to 40 hours per month. music royalties per song for pandora are up 9% this year. shares fell 4.2%, even though the company predicted the change will affect few of its customers. retail stocks were in focus after the j.c. penney's much bigger than expected loss during the holidays. shares fell hard, down 17% to their lowest closing since december. volume was five times average. standard and poor's cut j.c. penney's credit rating into junk territory,

c.e.o. andrew mason is out at the daily deals site he co-founded. >> tom: that and more tonight on "n.b.r."! >> susie: you know the economy is not very strong when analysts cheer because growth has been revised up by a "fraction," from a negative 0.10%. and with growth flat-lined, economists are wondering whether the upcoming budget cuts known as the "sequester" will derail the recovery. the good news is the cuts will take time to be felt. the bad news, as darren gersh reports, is the cuts will build in pain over time. >> reporter: in terms of its impact on the economy, the sequester is really more of a "slow" quester. the impact of the across the board spending cuts will take time to build and it could be months before its felt throughout the economy. students of government dysfunction say this is not the same as a government shut down or hitting the nation's borrowing limit. >> there is not that great an urgency. when we were talking about the debt ceiling, there was a real urgency, because if we got to the point where you literally can't pay the bills, that's a very big deal. in this case

c.e.o. andrew mason is out at the daily deals site he co-founded. >> tom: that and more tonight on "n.b.r."! >> susie: you know the economy is not very strong when analysts cheer because growth has been revised up by a "fraction," from a negative 0.10%. and with growth flat-lined, economists are wondering whether the upcoming budget cuts known as the "sequester" will derail the recovery. the good news is the cuts will take time to be felt. the bad news, as darren gersh reports, is the cuts will build in pain over time. >> reporter: in terms of its impact on the economy, the sequester is really more of a "slow" quester. the impact of the across the board spending cuts will take time to build and it could be months before its felt throughout the economy. students of government dysfunction say this is not the same as a government shut down or hitting the nation's borrowing limit. >> there is not that great an urgency. when we were talking about the debt ceiling, there was a real urgency, because if we got to the point where you literally can't pay the bills, that's a very big deal. in this case