Zynga Founder Mark Pincus Just Stepped Down From His Day-To-Day Role
Getty Images, Kevork Djansezian
Zynga founder Mark Pincus has stepped down from his operational role, Zynga just announced in its quarterly earnings.
Pincus will keep his title as chairman of the board of directors, but will no longer be involved in Zynga's day-to-day operations as chief product officer.
"I would like to thank Mark for his dedicated service to Zynga players, employees and shareholders since the Company's founding in 2007," Zynga CEO Don Mattrick said in its quarterly release. "Since that time, Mark has built Zynga into an entertainment leader, turning brands like FarmVille, Words With Friends and Zynga Poker into household names and daily habits for hundreds of millions of consumers. It is truly a privilege to lead Zynga and I was honored when Mark asked me to join as CEO and guide the Company into its next chapter of growth. Over the last 10 months, I have found his partnership to be intellectually rewarding and I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to continue building out his vision. Going forward, with Mark in his role as Chairman of the Board, we will continue to be close partners and work together to achieve our winning aspiration to be the at scale industry leader by delivering more #1 games in more categories than any other competitor."
Pincus remains the largest single shareholder in Zynga, with more than 57.6 million shares.
Even though he has since stepped down from his day-to-day operations, Pincus still plans on being present at the company at least one day a week, Re/Code reports. When he's not at Zynga, Pincus will spend time making angel investments, and maybe even create an incubator.
Pincus was formerly the CEO of Zynga, but he officially stepped down in March 2013. That's when Pincus became Chairman and Chief Product Officer at Zynga, and Mattrick took the role of CEO. Before joining Zynga, Mattrick was Microsoft's Xbox chief.
Zynga reported a 36% drop in revenue during Q1 compared to Q1 2013. Still, Zynga beat analysts' forecasts of $146.5 million.
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