Zynga founder to be replaced by Microsoft's Xbox chief as CEO

Monday, July 1, 2013

GUARDIAN.CO.UK - Mark Pincus, founder of Zynga, the struggling online games company, is stepping down as chief executive officer, the company said on Monday.

Pincus will be replaced by Don Mattrick, the current head of Microsoft'sXbox division. He will remain as chairman of the company and chief product officer. "Don is unique in the game business," Pincus said in a statement. "He can execute in multiple domains – hardware, software and network."

The move comes amid a period of turmoil for Zynga, whose hit games include Words With Friends, Farmville and Draw Something. The company was one of the first social media companies to go public but its share price has collapsed as sales have slumped. Like many of it peers, Zynga has struggled as games have moved from desktops to mobile devices, where advertising rates are lower and harder to sell. Zynga recently announced it is closing offices in New York and other major cities and shedding 18% of its workforce.

Zynga's shares soared 11% in anticipation of news that Pincus was stepping down from day-to-day running of the company. They closed the day at over $3, up 10.43%, but down from a high of $14.63 in March 2012 and well below the $10 they sold for when the company launched its initial public offering in December 2011.

Clark Fredricksen, vice-president of analyst eMarketer said Zynga had some trouble recently acquiring and maintaining users, but the number of people in US who play games online, through their phones or on social networks, continues to grow.

The number of people who play games on their phones is expected to grow 18.4% to 125.9 million in 2013, according to eMarketer, up from 106.3 million last year. Just over half of US mobile phone users will become active game users this year.

In an email to staff, Mattick, who will start work on June 8, wrote: "More than 1 billion people have installed a Zynga game across web and mobile and popular franchises like Farmville, Running With Friends and Words With Friends are a daily habit for millions of people. It's a staggering milestone that speaks to the mass market opportunity ahead of all of us.

"I joined Zynga because I believe that Mark's pioneering vision and mission to connect the world through games is just getting started. As Mark was recruiting me to come here, I was impressed by his creativity, drive and the clarity in which he sees the future of games and entertainment as a core consumer experience."

Read more »

Dollar jumps on S&P credit revision, bond yields rise

REUTERS.COM - NEW YORK, June 10 (Reuters) - The dollar rose against the yen and U.S. bond yields neared 14-month highs on Monday on improved sentiment toward the U.S. economy after rating agency Standard & Poor's dropped its negative credit outlook for U.S. government debt.

S&P upgraded the U.S. credit outlook to "stable" from "negative," saying the chances of a downgrade of the country's rating is "less than one in three."

The dollar extended gains versus the yen to hit a session high, while prices for long-dated Treasury debt slipped, continuing a selloff sparked by uncertainty over when the Federal Reserve would begin scaling back bond purchases.

The 30-year bond's yield rose to its highest since April 2012 after the S&P revision, while the 10-year note's yield touched 2.20 percent for just the second time since then.

German Bund futures fell to a three-month low with the September Bund futures contract settling down 54 ticks at 142.85, its lowest since mid-March.

Analysts and investors said the S&P news was unlikely to spur a sharp rally or impact speculation about when the Fed might ease back on its bond buying, but added to generally upbeat sentiment about the outlook for the U.S. economy.

Stocks fell in Europe and straddled break-even on Wall Street as investors assessed equity valuations that are no longer as attractive as last year or at the beginning of 2013. Along with uncertainty regarding the Fed, it makes a sustained rally less likely now.

"It's enough to put the markets in a period of what I think will be drawn-out consolidation," said Steven Einhorn, vice chairman at hedge fund Omega Advisors Inc in New York.

"Not a lot of downside, just not a lot of upside," Einhorn said, adding stocks were likely to be range-bound for awhile.

MSCI's all-country world equity index rose 0.24 percent even as the FTSEurofirst 300 of leading European shares slid 0.08 percent to close at 1,193.27.

Unexpectedly weak Chinese import data prompted investors to dump cyclical miners and buy defensive companies such as Deutsche Telekom and Bayer.

European mining shares tumbled, with Lonmin losing 3.2 percent, Anglo American down 2.8 percent and Rio Tinto off 2.4 percent.

Chinese imports in May fell 0.3 percent, against expectations for a 6 percent rise, as the volume of many commodity shipments fell from a year earlier.

China's economy grew at its slowest pace for 13 years in 2012 and so far this year economic data has surprised on the downside, bringing warnings from some analysts that the country could miss its growth target of 7.5 percent for this year.

Homebuilders were among the top decliners on Wall Street as mortgage rates rose above 4 percent last week for the first time in a year. Lennar Corp fell 3.3 percent at $37.31 and D.R. Horton Inc shares fell 2.1 percent to $23.06.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 9.53 points, or 0.06 percent, at 15,238.59. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 0.57 point, or 0.03 percent, at 1,642.81. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 4.55 points, or 0.13 percent, at 3,473.77.

The dollar rose as high as 99.28 yen and last traded at 98.67, up 1.17 percent on the day, according to Reuters data.

The euro erased early losses to rise 0.25 percent to $1.3255 against the dollar.

The 30-year or long bond fell 13/32 in price to yield 3.3661. The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note was down 8/32 in price to yield 2.2097 percent.

Key commodity prices suffered from the signs of weaker Chinese demand.

Brent crude settled below $104 a barrel, down 61 cents at $103.95. U.S. light sweet crude oil fell 26 cents to $95.77 a barrel.

Copper fell to its lowest price in more than three weeks, pressured by a stronger dollar and as the poor Chinese data stoked fears about the outlook for industrial metals demand.

Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange fell 0.94 percent to close at $7,162 a tonne, after hitting its lowest since mid-May at $7,126.



Gold edged higher in light trade after dropping the most in a month on Friday. U.S. Comex gold futures for August delivery settled up $3 an ounce at $1,386.

Read more »