Mobile social gaming company Zynga announced on Monday that former president of interactive entertainment business for Microsoft, Don Mattrick, will be named CEO of the company.
The company's former founder and CEO, Mark Pincus, stepped down but will remain the company's chairman and chief product officer, according to USA Today. Pincus, most known for leading the small company to prominence with the game FarmVille, has made a series of miscalculations and poor management decisions since Zynga's IPO earlier last year. Since that time, the company has been struggling. The company was in such a dire state that the change in CEO was necessary.
Zynga's stock was down 70 percent since it sold its shares to the public in late 2011. Last month, the company was forced to lay off nearly one fifth of its work force. After news broke about the former Xbox executive joining forces with Zynga, the company's stock rose by ten percent. Since that time it has gone up an additional 6.5 percent according to reports from USA Today.
Mattrick leaves Microsoft after working for the company since 2007. He has had a long career in the gaming industry. At 17-years-old, he sold a company he started called "Distinctive Software" to EA.
He then spent the next few years of his career heading its global studios research and development team until he made the switch to Microsoft where he turned the company around, making it one of the most popular gaming consoles and communities in the world. Mattrick's company bio for Microsoft says he joined just after the release of the Xbox 360. Thanks to him, the company went from having ten million users on their install base to 80 million. In addition, Xbox Live membership under Mattrick grew from six million to 50 million.
The New York Times reports Pincus had long said he would make this switch.
"If I could find someone who could do a better job as our CEO, I'd do all I could to recruit and bring that person in," he said. "I'm confident that Don is that leader."
