Zynga: Giver’s Remorse, Changes in Management… All Before an IPO
Posted under: In the world of gaming giants, Zynga has made some major management shifts just weeks before the company is expected to public – and CEO Mark Pincus wants his stock back.
Chief Business Officer, Owen Van Natta, resigned from his role and has shifted to a board position and continues to advice on strategic partnerships. His resignation, however, cost him more than 4.6 million in unvested stock options.
It seems that the role of Chief Business Officer will not be filled, but that the responsibilities of that office will be assumed by the Chief Operating Officer, John Schappert and by the Chief Revenue/Marketing Officer, Jeff Karp. Brad Feld, a venture capitalist whose firm was one of the original investors in the company, has also stepped down from the board of directors. His replacement is Sunil Pau, the former CEO of Brightmail who co-founded FreeLoader with Zynga CEO Mark Pincus.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Pincus, who gave out stock freely to keep top talent early on, developed “giver’s remorse” because he felt that some of the company’s early employees did not contribute as much as he expected. Though the practice is somewhat commonplace pre-IPO for fast growth companies, it is not one that is highly publicized or even discussed outside company boardrooms.
How Will This Effect Zyna? Read more here.
Originally published in The BroadStreet Times
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