chief operating officer
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Jolla's Marc Dillon takes over as CEO, Jussi Hurmola to focus on Sailfish
Following big news from Jolla almost two weeks ago, it's reluctant to go quiet, instead taking to Twitter to announce that Jussi Hurmola is no longer its CEO. This isn't a story of scandal or corporate dissent, but merely a restructuring to allow Hurmola to focus on Sailfish, the MeeGo-based OS currently in development. It's no great surprise that Marc Dillon is stepping up to be the new big cheese -- he's another of the company's founders and was acting COO prior to the shuffle. Sailfish is due to be demoed for the first time in a little over a month, where we imagine Hurmola will be eager to flaunt its progress now that he's managed to palm off all that paperwork.
Zynga COO John Schappert resigns
Zynga's chief operations officer John Schappert has resigned, according to Fortune. This announcement comes just barely one week after Schappert's responsibilities at the developer were revised to no longer include the oversight of game development. Schappert's departure is effective immediately."John has made significant contributions to the games industry throughout his career and we appreciate all that he has done for Zynga," CEO Mark Pincus told Fortune. "John leaves as a friend of the company and we wish him all the best."Prior to working at Zynga, Schappert served as Corporate Vice President of Live at Microsoft, as well as COO of Electronic Arts -- a company that happens to be suing Zynga as we speak.
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."
Activision CFO Thomas Tippl now COO
Acitvision chief financial officer Thomas Tippl was recently promoted to the position of chief operating officer at the publisher, and will serve double duty as temporary acting CFO while a replacement is found. A filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission from last week detailed the executive swap (titled the "Tippl Amendment," effective as of March 23), including an $885k annual salary, stock options, an annual raise "at least equal to the average [undisclosed] percentage increase" (pending approval by the board), and a yearly performance-based bonus of "120 percent of his base salary [$1,062,000]." The wonderfully candid thing about SEC filings is that there's little room for spin or marketing, but the downside is all the financial jargon -- like the fact that part of Tippl's new contract entitles him to a grant of 225,000 "performance shares" that "vest ratably." This means we're put in a position where we're telling you about stuff that is at the least pretty confusing and likely kind of meaningless. So let's break it down! "Performance shares" are, according to Investopedia, "shares of company stock given to managers only if certain company wide performance criteria are met, such as earnings per share targets." Meaning, in so many words, that Activision has to meet a certain performance level in order for Tippl to earn said shares. That they will "vest ratably" is only to say that on Feb. 15 of each year for the next four years, he will earn part of that eventual 225,000-share goal (in 2014) ... should he stay in his position for all that time, of course. And finally, this is all based on the prediction that he delivers a higher or equal to non-GAAP earning per share when compared to the previous year. In short, he has to either break even or make money to get the stocks, and he has to maintain that for the next four years. Quite a tall order, sir! [Via Edge]
