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Elon Musk won't join Twitter's board of directors after all
Elon Musk will no longer join Twitter's board of directors, Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal revealed in a tweet.
Reggie Fils-Aimé joins mobile publisher Rogue Games as an advisor
The former Nintendo exec seems to have a different definition of retirement than most people.
Former Nintendo exec Reggie Fils-Aimé joins GameStop's board
GameStop thinks it has a way to turn around its struggling business: give a video game industry legend a say in the company's future. The retailer has appointed three new people to its board of directors, most notably including former Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aimé. He'll take his position on April 20th, while the other two (former Walmart US president Bill Simon and PetSmart chief J.K. Symncyk) are taking their board seats immediately.
Former Epic president Mike Capps joins Remedy's board of directors
Mike Capps' summer vacation comes to a close today, as the former Epic Games president accepts a new role at Quantum Break developer Remedy Entertainment. Capps joins Remedy's board of directors and will help guide the growing studio of more than 100 employees. Remedy CEO Matias Myllyrinne emphasizes the need for experienced guidance. "Like any team, I think a good board is a combination of different kinds of skill sets, and different kinds of strengths that really come together. That's the way, in my experience, the best teams work," Myllyrinne tells GamesIndustry International. "Obviously Mike has a tremendous track record in the games industry. He's been very successful and has proven himself over and over again." Capps stepped down from his position as president of Epic Games late last year to take on a more limited advisory role within the company. Capps then fully broke away from Epic in March and considered advisory board positions at other gaming companies before settling on Remedy Entertainment.
Former NYT digital head joins EA's board as Gregory Maffei leaves
Following last week's "restructuring," Electronic Arts has announced a new addition to its board of directors. Denise F. Warren has been appointed to both the board and EA's Audit Committee. Warren is the Vice President of the Digital Products and Services group at the New York Times, where she previously oversaw operations on NYTimes.com and the Times' other digital properties. Warren will be stepping in as director Gregory Maffei steps out, passing on re-election at the stockholders meeting to be held on July 31. Maffei is the president and CEO of Liberty Media, the distributor that owns cable channels Discovery Channel, USA, Starz and more. Maffei has been on the EA board for 10 years, but is resigning to work with his own company.
Former EA, Activision exec Kathy Vrabeck joins GameStop board of directors
GameStop has announced that executive Kathy Vrabeck is joining its board of directors this week. Vrabeck is a former executive at both EA and Activision, served as the head of digital at Legendary Pictures, and currently serves as a partner at LA-based leadership consulting firm Heidrick and Struggles.Her appointment brings the total number of board members at GameStop to 12.
Bobby Kotick joins Coca-Cola board, will advise on digital media
Shortly after appearing in a cameo for Moneyball, Activision Blizzard CEO has picked up another choice role: He's joined The Coca Cola Company's board of directors. Kotick will help oversee the classic sugar water giant, and advise the company on its entries into digital media. Kotick also serves on a few educational institution boards, the board of directors at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and as the founder of the Call of Duty Endowment, Activision's nonprofit arm, built to support US armed forces veterans and their families. Kotick also served on Yahoo!'s board of directors previously.In completely unrelated news, Coca Cola also announced an "online pass" for its sodas going forward: You'll get all the water and carbonation of your soda with the initial purchase, but the actual syrup flavoring will require an extra charge. Ice will require a complete subscription.
Micron appoints Mark Durcan as new CEO
In the wake of last week's fatal plane crash that took the life of its CEO, Micron Technology has appointed a successor, Mark Durcan. The former CTO has been with the company since 1984, and has -- per company bylaws -- been serving as interim chief since February 3rd. Robert Switz, the company's previous Board Director, will assume the duties of Board Chairman and Mark Adams, formerly the VP of Worldwide Sales, has been named as the company's President. In a press release announcing the appointments, the new CEO wrote that the company was "deeply saddened" to learn of the death of its top executive, and that the management team would work relentlessly to "continue to move the company forward."
'Staunchly British' Jagex sets the record straight about its new ownership
Jagex doesn't take kindly to being called an American company these days, it appears. In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, CEO Mark Gerhard set the record straight about the recently reported deal that put the British game studio under the purview of an American investment firm. Because the deal was made earlier last year, Gerhard sees this as old news and stressed that the company was trucking on much the same as it ever was. "The insinuation that this is a company that somehow now is run by bankers in the US again couldn't be further from the truth," he said. "Sure we therefore have some American shareholders, but the management and the culture and the ethos and everything else is the same people, in the same hands, and staunchly British." He also clarified why the studio's profits were reported to be down: "If you look at our company's house filings, revenues are up but profits are down, and those aren't because we're doing a crap job, that's because we're consciously taking those profits and ploughing them back into the business." Gerhard said that the company was "very, very selective" when it came to investors, and that it feels completely comfortable with the current board of directors. He said that the new investors were not interfering with the day-to-day development and operations of Jagex's ever-expanding library of titles: "I'm very excited for the year ahead and everyone in the studio is very focused on, not just making RuneScape and 8Realms a financial success, but our work on Stellar Dawn and even Transformers coming together to make truly great games for this year."
God save the green: Deal makes Jagex a US company
Jagex is trading up the Union Jack for the Stars and Stripes, as controlling interest in the studio has changed hands to a US firm. Insight Venture Partners, a venture capital firm from the US, completed a deal last year to increase its ownership to 55% of the UK-based company. Previously, the firm had 35% interest in Jagex. Now that the scales have tipped to the new ownership, this technically makes Jagex a US-controlled company and has US investors leading its board of directors. While revenues were up 2% for Jagex in 2011, both operating and net profits were significantly down from the previous financial year. Jagex is a major player in the MMO free-to-play market, with RuneScape, Transformers Universe, and 8Realms as part of its project portfilio. Develop reports that the controlling interest was made possible by Jagex co-founder Andrew Gower selling off his ownership claims to the firm for $115.65 million. As part of the deal, Jagex paid $3.85 million in expenses. The studio will remain in Cambridge while its controlling firm is in NYC.
Blizzard's Frank Pearce steps up to join AIAS' board of directors
Blizzard Entertainment has another reason to be proud of its family at holiday parties this year, as lil' Frank Pearce has grown up to join the board of directors at the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. "Look at my boy," Blizzard will sniffle with pride. "We always knew he was going to make something of himself one day!" Pearce was one of the original co-founders of Blizzard back in 1991 and has been a vital part of the studio's operations ever since -- he's overseen development on World of Warcraft among other roles. In joining the AIAS board of directors, Pearce will now extend his influence over the Academy's dealings with its over 22,000 members from various industry leaders. For his part, Pearce thinks the appointment will be a good match for his experience: "I've always appreciated the Academy's commitment to advancing the gaming medium and fostering creativity within our industry. I'm honored to be chosen for this role on the Board, and I look forward to drawing on my experiences at Blizzard to help support and contribute to the AIAS' ongoing mission."
Bob Iger picks up $55,000 in stock for joining Apple's Board
We mentioned earlier this week that Disney CEO Bob Iger was invited to join up to Apple's Board of Directors, and Fortune reports that as part of his deal, Iger got 142 restricted shares of AAPL, totalling a nice bonus of over $55,000 at current market value. Nice work, if you can get it! We joke -- Iger has been a key player at Disney for a while, overseeing both the recent purchase of Marvel Entertainment, as well as the acquisition of Pixar, which of course was headed up by none other than Steve Jobs. $55k is nothing for Iger, though -- last year, he picked up more than $29 million in compensation from Disney, according to SEC filings. And Iger has one other thing going for him that he and I share: He's a Bachelor of Science alumni from the Roy H. Park School of Communications at Ithaca College in upstate New York. Go Bombers!
Arthur D. Levinson new Apple chairman, Disney CEO Bob Iger joins board
Arthur D. Levinson has been named chairman of Apple's board of directors. Levinson has been a co-lead director of the board since 2005, and he is also chairman of Genentech. At the same time, Disney president and CEO Bob Iger has also joined Apple's board of directors; together, he and Levinson will both serve on the board's audit committee. "Bob and I have gotten to know one another very well over the past few years and on behalf of the entire board, we think he is going to make an extraordinary addition to our already very strong board," said Tim Cook, who called Disney's CEO "a great fit for Apple." Iger's appointment to Apple's board appears to further cement the ties between the two companies. As CEO of Pixar, Steve Jobs was Disney's largest shareholder. Show full PR text Apple Names Arthur D. Levinson Chairman of the Board Robert A. Iger, President & Chief Executive Officer of The Walt Disney Company, Joins Apple's Board CUPERTINO, Calif., Nov 15, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Apple(R) today named Arthur D. Levinson, Ph. D. as the Company's non-executive Chairman of the Board. Levinson has been a co-lead director of Apple's board since 2005, has served on all three board committees--audit and finance, nominating and corporate governance, and compensation--and will continue to serve on the audit committee. Apple also announced that Robert A. Iger, President and Chief Executive Officer of The Walt Disney Company, will join Apple's board and will serve on the audit committee. "Art has made enormous contributions to Apple since he joined the board in 2000," said Tim Cook, Apple's CEO. "He has been our longest serving co-lead director, and his insight and leadership are incredibly valuable to Apple, our employees and our shareholders." "Bob and I have gotten to know one another very well over the past few years and on behalf of the entire board, we think he is going to make an extraordinary addition to our already very strong board," said Tim Cook. "His strategic vision for Disney is based on three fundamentals: generating the best creative content possible, fostering innovation and utilizing the latest technology, and expanding into new markets around the world which makes him a great fit for Apple." "I am honored to be named chairman of Apple's board and welcome Bob to our team," said Art Levinson. "Apple is always focused on out-innovating itself through the delivery of truly innovative products that simplify and improve our lives, and that is something I am very proud to be a part of." "Apple has achieved unprecedented success by consistently creating high quality, truly innovative products, and I am extremely pleased to join the board of such a wonderful company," said Bob Iger. "Over the years, I have come to know and admire the management team, now ably led by Tim Cook, and I am confident they have the leadership and vision to ensure Apple's continued momentum and success." Levinson is chairman of Genentech, Inc. and a member of the Roche Board of Directors. He joined Genentech as a research scientist in 1980, and served as Genentech's Chief Executive Officer from 1995 to 2009. He is also a director of Amyris, NGM Biopharmaceuticals, Inc., and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. Levinson currently serves on the Board of Scientific Consultants of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and the Advisory Council for the Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics. He has authored or co-authored more than 80 scientific articles and has been a named inventor on 11 United States patents. In 2008, he was elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Levinson received his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Washington and earned a doctorate in Biochemical Sciences from Princeton University. Iger is the steward of the world's largest media company and some of the most respected and beloved brands around the globe. He has built on Disney's rich history of unforgettable storytelling, with the acquisition of Pixar (2006) and Marvel (2009), two of the entertainment industry's greatest storytellers. Always one to embrace new technology, Iger has made Disney an industry leader at the forefront of offering its creative content across new and multiple platforms. He is a member of the board of directors for the National September 11 Memorial & Museum and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Inc. He became a board member of the US-China Business Council in June 2011. In June 2010, President Barack Obama appointed him to the President's Export Council, which advises the president on how to promote US exports, jobs and growth. He is also a member of the Partnership for a New American Economy, a coalition of mayors and business leaders from across the United States that support comprehensive immigration reform. Iger is a graduate of Ithaca College. Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced iPad 2 which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices.
Apple announces changes to its board: Arthur D. Levinson named Chairman, Robert Iger joins
Apple has just announced some changes to its board of directors, including the appointment of a new non-executive chairman: Arthur D. Levinson. Currently Chairman of Genentech Inc., Levinson has been a co-director of Apple's board since 2005, having first joined the board in 2000. He'll be welcoming new board member Robert A. Iger, who you may know as the President and CEO of The Walt Disney Company. In a statement, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that Levinson "has made enormous contributions to Apple since he joined the board in 2000," and that his "insight and leadership are incredibly valuable to Apple, our employees and our shareholders." On Iger, Cook said: "Bob and I have gotten to know one another very well over the past few years and on behalf of the entire board, we think he is going to make an extraordinary addition to our already very strong board," further noting that "his strategic vision for Disney is based on three fundamentals: generating the best creative content possible, fostering innovation and utilizing the latest technology, and expanding into new markets around the world which makes him a great fit for Apple." The official press release is after the break.
Al Gore praises Apple Board at All Things D conference
Al Gore, Former Vice President and member of the Apple board of Directors, sat down with Walt Mossberg at the recent AsiaD conference held in Hong Kong last week. Besides environmental issues and politics, Gore also talked about Steve Jobs, Apple and its board of Directors. Gore has served on Apple's board since 2003. Gore had nothing but good things to say about the members of Apple's Board of Directors and praised them for making difficult decisions throughout Steve Jobs's protracted illness. I have the deepest respect for my fellow board members, we're all very good friends... I think that people who specialize in kibitzing about these things - I respect them, it's good for them to think about this kind of stuff, but I wouldn't change a thing about the way the Apple board has operated. Apple's board has been criticized in the past for withholding information about Steve Jobs's illness and for not publicizing its CEO accession plan.
Shareholder calls for RIM to sell itself or its patents, in critical open letter
Things just keep getting bleaker for RIM. With its revenues stagnating and smartphone market share dwindling, the BlackBerry maker is now facing new financial pressure from Jaguar Financial Group -- a Canadian merchant bank and RIM shareholder that's calling upon the company to do one of two rather unpleasant things: sell itself, or sell its patent portfolio. In an open letter to RIM's board of directors, Jaguar CEO Vic Alboni criticized the manufacturer for failing to "inspire consumer enthusiasm" for its products, and for bringing its devices to market too late. And, as share prices continue to drop, Alboni thinks it's time to make a change: The status quo is not acceptable, the company cannot sit still. It is time for transformational change. The directors need to seize the reins to maximize shareholder value before more market value is lost. Jaguar didn't specify the size of its RIM stake, but claimed to be calling for upheaval on behalf of "other supportive shareholders" who, in total, hold less than five percent of the company. The Ontario-based firm is hoping that a new line of QNX-based smartphones will curtail its slump, but Alboni doesn't sound so optimistic. "You cannot put all your eggs in one basket," he told Bloomberg. "The board should be saying, 'What if these products don't pan out?' You don't want RIM to turn into another Nortel." A RIM spokeswoman, meanwhile, declined to comment on the letter. Hit up the source link below to read it for yourself.
Eric Schmidt "couldn't stay on" Apple's board (Updated)
Update: The original story had a misquote and was subsequently updated to correct this. We've updated our story as well. Google Chairman Eric Schmidt spoke with Salesforce Chairman CEO Mark Benioff in a Q&A session earlier this week. The former CEO had kind words to say about Steve Jobs and called Jobs' reign over Apple as "the best performance of a CEO in 50 years." Though he had glowing words about Jobs, Schmidt was less enthusiastic about his time on Apple's Board of Directors. Speaking about his time on the board, Schmidt says, "I was on the board until I couldn't stay on the board anymore." The quote came from a Bloomberg report which did not provide the context or additional details about this somewhat scathing comment. But looking back at Schmidt's time on the board, this attitude is not that surprising. When Schmidt was on the board, Apple had launched the iPhone and Schmidt, as the head of Google, had just launched Android, a competing platform to the iPhone. It must have been an awkward and tense time to be on the board of a company that is now your chief rival. [Via AppleInsider]
Steve Jobs expected to remain on Disney board
The name Steve Jobs is synonymous with Apple, the company the man co-founded with Steve Wozniak and the relatively unknown Ronald Wayne. Fewer people remember that Jobs also has ties with Disney and has been on the board of directors of the entertainment giant for the past five years. Bloomberg.com reported last night that Jobs is expected to stay on the Disney board for the foreseeable future. In 1986, during his exile from Apple, Jobs purchased Pixar Animation Studios from Lucasfilm and with his support as CEO, helped the studio begin making its string of highly successful animated feature films. Jobs sold Pixar to Disney in 2006 for $7.4 billion, which made him the largest single stockholder in Disney. His stake in the company is still huge -- Jobs owns a 7.4% stake in the Disney empire (about 138 million shares of stock). Bloomberg also noted that Jobs was the only Disney board member who was unable to attend 75 percent of board meetings due to health considerations. At his own request, Jobs does not receive compensation in his role as a Disney board member.
Steve Jobs resigns as CEO of Apple
A major development out of Cupertino: Apple CEO Steve Jobs has stepped down, the board naming Tim Cook as his replacement. The company said "Steve's extraordinary vision and leadership saved Apple and guided it to its position as the world's most innovative and valuable technology company." Steve himself published the following letter: I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple's CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come. I hereby resign as CEO of Apple. I would like to serve, if the Board sees fit, as Chairman of the Board, director and Apple employee. As far as my successor goes, I strongly recommend that we execute our succession plan and name Tim Cook as CEO of Apple. I believe Apple's brightest and most innovative days are ahead of it. And I look forward to watching and contributing to its success in a new role. I have made some of the best friends of my life at Apple, and I thank you all for the many years of being able to work alongside you. Steve Apple has confirmed that Jobs will stay on as Chairman. Full details in the PR after the break.
Netflix CEO Reed Hastings joins Facebook's Board of Directors
News that Netflix's CEO Reed Hastings is joining the Board of Directors for Facebook should make for an interesting note in the next movie, but beyond that it's unclear what it means for either company. Hastings successfully navigated Netflix through the process of going public which many assume will be a next step for the social media giant, so his experience could come in handy, and also serves on the board of Microsoft, which owns a stake in Facebook. That goes without mentioning plans by Netflix to make another run at integrating social features into its movie service after the original implementation fell apart and Warner Bros. recently offering video on-demand through Facebook. Other than facing a lawsuit from Paul Allen, Netflix and Facebook share an intense public backlash whenever either one changes their homepage, but we're not sure how he could help there -- have you seen the redesigned Netflix.com?
