Zynga Inc, the company behind the popular “FarmVille” game, announced that its Chief Financial Officer David Lee will be stepping down.
Chief Accounting Officer Michelle Quejado is taking over as interim CFO.
Quejado has not been at Zynga for too long, having only joined this March as the company’s vice president of finance and corporate controller. Prior to joining Zynga she was the assistant corporate controller at Lam Research Corporation.
Zynga CEO and founder Mark Pincus said in a statement: ”I want to thank David for the leadership and commitment he has shown Zynga,”
Lee commented: “I believe Zynga is in a much stronger position today than it was when I joined the company, and I want to thank Mark for his partnership.”
The company also announced that it’s pushed back the launch of “Dawn of Titans” and “CSR2” to 2016. The two games were previously planned to be released in the fourth quarter of this year.
Zynga third quarter earnings beat expectations, but company posts drop in monthly active users
Zynga reported slightly better-than-expected third-quarter results this week, posting earnings of $3.1 million on revenue of $176 million (a 10.8 percent increase) driven by the success of new games such as “Words With Friends” and “Wizard of Oz Slots”.
According to estimated by Reuters, analysts had forecast revenue to drop 3 percent year on year to $170 million.
However, the number of Zynga’s monthly active users (MAUs), a very important metric for Internet companies, plunged 27 percent year on year in the fourth quarter.
The earnings report was the first since Zynga introduced its cost reduction plan in May. The resulted in over 350 job losses but is estimated to have saved the company approximately $100 million.
“Developing new sustainable growth continues to be challenging and unpredictable,” Zynga said in a letter to shareholders on Tuesday.
Zynga has struggled to maintain its market share as consumer preferences in the gaming sector continuously change. The company faces fierce competition from the likes of Glu Mobile Inc and King Digital Entertainment Plc. It was recently announced that Activision Blizzard will be acquiring King Digital Entertainment Plc for $5.9 billion.
