Zynga CEO Mark Pincus to Pass Reins to Frank Gibeau
March 01 2016 - 4:40PM
Dow Jones News
The revolving door at the top of Zynga Inc. is turning
again.
The mobile-game maker Tuesday said Chief Executive Mark Pincus
is passing the reins to Frank Gibeau, who joined the board in
August after more than two decades at Electronic Arts Inc.
Mr. Pincus, who will become executive chairman, said the
leadership change was his idea and grew out of a partnership with
Mr. Gibeau. "This really happened organically," Mr. Pincus said in
an interview. The 50-year-old plans to remain "deeply engaged" in
day-to-day operations.
The shake-up, which takes effect March 7, comes within a year of
Mr. Pincus returning to helm the company he founded. That move
itself was less than two years after Mr. Pincus stepped aside when
former Microsoft Corp. and EA executive Don Mattrick became
CEO.
Mr. Gibeau, 47, "brings some experience and skill sets we don't
have," Mr. Pincus said in an interview. "My DNA is more in social
and entrepreneuring," while Mr. Gibeau "has far more depth in terms
of running and building game businesses at scale."
Zynga is long past its heyday as the social-gaming powerhouse
behind "FarmVille" on Facebook Inc. The company was slow to adapt
to casual gamers' migration to mobile apps and fell behind rivals
such as King Digital Entertainment, the "Candy Crush" maker
recently acquired by Activision Blizzard Inc. for $5.9 billion.
While Zynga has increased its output of apps to compete with the
likes of Supercell Oy's "Clash of Clans," it hasn't come close to
recapturing its dominance. The company has struggled to stay
profitable, and its shares have been stuck below $3 since Mr.
Pincus returned as CEO a year ago.
At the time, Mr. Pincus said he planned to get Zynga back "to
what differentiated us." He let go of 364 employees—nearly a fifth
of Zynga's workforce—and said the company would focus on popular
areas such as casino games.
Zynga hemorrhaged users despite the efforts. In its most recent
earnings report, the company said the number of people playing its
games daily fell 24% to 18 million, while monthly active users fell
30% to 68 million. It said it would put its seven-story San
Francisco headquarters up for sale.
Mr. Gibeau, who ran EA's mobile-games division at the time of
his departure in May, is tasked with stopping the bleeding. As a
board member, he visited Zynga's headquarters about twice a week,
working with Mr. Pincus on financial planning and operational
strategy.
Zynga attributed its revitalization of "Words With Friends" and
success with slots games to Mr. Gibeau's involvement. The focus
now, Mr. Gibeau said, is building on these core franchises.
"We were doing too many things, working on way too many games
with the resources we had," Mr. Gibeau said. "That was a big
exercise we went through."
Even so, Zynga plans to release 10 new games this year. It
recently acquired a 65-person studio specializing in slots games.
"We're adding head count," Mr. Gibeau said. "We're planning to
incrementally and slowly invest and grow in our core areas."
In a proxy filing with the SEC, Mr. Pincus owned 10% of the
company but had 64% of the voting control as of March 31, 2015.
Write to Sarah E. Needleman at sarah.needleman@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 01, 2016 16:25 ET (21:25 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Zynga (NASDAQ:ZNGA)
Historical Stock Chart
From Aug 2024 to Sep 2024
Zynga (NASDAQ:ZNGA)
Historical Stock Chart
From Sep 2023 to Sep 2024