Report: Schappert leaves EA for Zynga

EA COO John Schappert has resigned from his position, and reportedly plans to join Zynga's senior staff as head of the games division. Analyst Michael Pachter predicts this is a step towards taking the company into public trading.

3

EA's Chief Operating Officer John Schappert has left the company, and reportedly will be joining casual games giant Zynga, according to sources cited by Reuters. Word of his resignation came from a regulatory filing yesterday, and a source claims he's been brought on to join Zynga's senior management team as the head of the games division.

Analysts note that Zynga may be relying on Schappert's experience at EA and Microsoft to prepare for public trading. "If Zynga is serious about going public, they need someone who knows how to do it," said Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter. "They just grabbed a guy to give them what they were missing -- public management experience."

Zynga has been expanding quickly, acquiring 10 smaller casual studios in the last 11 months, and securing some heavy investment funds. This also seems like a good fit for Schappert, who initiated efforts to shore up EA's own mobile and social games divisions.

Editor-In-Chief
Filed Under
From The Chatty
  • reply
    April 26, 2011 11:30 AM

    Steve Watts posted a new article, Report: Schappert leaves EA for Zynga.

    EA COO John Schappert has resigned from his position, and reportedly plans to join Zynga's senior staff as head of the games division. Analyst Michael Pachter predicts this is a step towards taking the company into public trading.

    • reply
      April 26, 2011 11:49 AM

      I wonder if ea will get bought out by one of these upstarts or a richer competitor like activision. Ea's reliance on aaa console titles seems to have left them in a stagnant, mature, high cost/risk market. Mobile devices and the pc sem to be the only platforms with any real movement or life to them. I see more industry analysts and news sites and blogs pushing for the xbox1080/ps4 as the year marches on.

    • reply
      April 26, 2011 11:50 AM

      EA losing management to Zynga. Who would have predicted that 5 years ago.

    • reply
      April 26, 2011 12:28 PM

      I really dislike zynga for some reason. I feel that they got that big due to a lame product.

      • reply
        April 26, 2011 12:40 PM

        I agree with you, but I feel more like Zynga games are the equivalent of exploitation movies in Hollywood. They were cheap and make a ton of money, but don't really do anyone any good.

        It will always be better to respect your consumer enough to give them quality rather than exploiting them until their good will runs out.

Hello, Meet Lola