Zynga Inc (ZNGA)

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ZNGA: 1,HOUR,AGO(JAPAN,NEWS.NET)FRANK,GIBEAU,E.A.VP,RECORD,OF,SHIPPING,MARKET-LEADING,GAMES,NEW,ZNGA,CEO





ZNGA AFTER-HOURS HIGH $2.35, TUESDAY, 1ST MARCH, 2016,



Pincus sidesteps again to make for new Zynga CEO
The Japan News.Net Wednesday 2nd March, 2016
1 hour ago
pincus sidesteps again to make for new zynga ceo

NEW YORK A year ago Zynga founder Mark Pincus was called back as the CEO of the struggling online games maker. While the company's battle continues, Pincus is sidestepping to allow board member Frank Gibeau to take the reins.

The company said Tuesday that Gibeau, a former executive with Electronic Arts, will be its new CEO. Gibeau has served on Zynga's board since August and will take over from Pincuson Monday.

Pincus, previously the company's chairman and CEO, will become the executive chairman, and maintain an active role in the company, it said.

"FRANK HAS A HISTORY OF DEVELOPING STRONG TEAMS AND SHIPPING MARKET-LEADING GAMES," Pincus said in a letter to employees that was released to the press.

"HE HAS A PROVEN 25-YEAR TRACK RECORD, HAVING HELPED ARCHITECT THE SUCCESSFUL TURNAROUND OF ELECTRONIC ARTS."

Re/Code said both Pincus and Gibeau described the new executive arrangement as a "partnership".

Gibeau said that his job isn't just playing the operations role to Pincus's product guru, but it will also be to "frame strategy, increase operational excellence and collaborate with Mark".

"We're poised to launch our biggest slate of new games and they have the potential to really drive audience and bookings and growth on mobile," Pincus said.

"We're not the first company to go through multiple CEO changes until we get it right, and we won't be the last."

Zynga has been battling for the last few years. Its initial growth was fueled by the rise of Facebook-based games like "FarmVille" and "Words With Friends" that made it a profit behemoth.

After its end of 2011 IPO that gave it a $7 billion valuation, things turned south. Zynga began losing its user base as fewer and fewer people played Facebook games.

Its share price peaked at around $15 a share in March of 2012, dropped to $2.72 later that summer and it hasn't risen above $5.58 since summer 2014.

The new executive reshuffle is strikingly similar to earlier changers at the company. In 2013, Pincus brought games industry veteran Don Mattrick, who had spent 15 years at Electronic Arts to help turn the company around.

However, nothing happened. Mattrick left in April last year and Pincus returned to the top job.

Zynga's stock now trades at $2.16 a share, lower than when Pincus became chief executive for the second time. And the new blood is being tried again.

The company had 1,669 employees at the end of last year, down from 3,058 three years earlier, according to filings with regulators.

After paying $228 million for a huge building to house its headquarters in San Francisco four years ago, Zynga recently said it would sell the building and lease space from the new owner.

"While we're not yet the company we aspire to be, it's clear to me that Zynga has significant strengths that it can thrive on," Gibeau said in an email to Zynga employees on Tuesday.







Source:

http://www.thejapannews.net/index.php/sid/241822129