Zynga is struggling

Absrtact: Zynga CEO Pinto Cass (Mark Pincus) is struggling to solve many of the company's problems by taking measures including restructuring the mobile and management teams and awarding equity incentives, but it seems to have yet to Pinto

Zynga CEO Mark Ping Cass

The Wall Street Journal today published an article saying that Zynga CEO Mark Ping Cass is struggling to address many of the company's problems, including measures such as restructuring the mobile and management teams and awarding equity incentives, but it does not seem to have been effective. And in September, when he met with Apple Director Campbell (Bill Campbell) to receive his guidance, he was once nearly in tears.

The following are the main contents of the article:

Receive guidance

As the company's share price declines, its online games are losing popularity, and Zynga investors and venture capital Kleiner invited the tech veteran, Campbell, to advise the Cass. Campbell has guided the famous Silicon Valley CEOs such as Steve Jobs and Eric Schmidt. Some of Kleiner's partners cautioned Campbell that his help might not be a big help to the Cass.

But during a meeting to discuss Zynga's management challenges, he was willing to accept Campbell's advice. According to Campbell, the flat Cass was "rather frustrated" and his tears were almost welling up, "and what happened in the company made him feel terrible and upset." ”

This is just the epitome of the dilemma facing Cass. Last year, he led Zynga to a successful IPO with a 9 billion dollar valuation. Now that the company's share price has fallen sharply, he also needs to find a way to reverse the company's operations. In the past few months, Zynga's troubles seem to have ended, and the 46-Year-old CEO is on the surface very optimistic.

But behind the scenes, Ping-Cass suffered. He has to deal with internal contradictions, including the resignation of executives and the questioning of employees. He has taken steps to placate his staff, including offering more equity rewards, but it backfired.

Finally, Ping Cass to seek Campbell and other people's guidance and advice. Pincus has reorganized some of Zynga's internal structures and restructured its executive team. He is trying to establish a clearer direction for the company, and is committed to strengthening the soft rib of mobile games. Pincus, who holds Zynga's 50.2% voting control, talks with outside advisers about improving its management skills. He is hoping to reshape his image as head of the company by empowering his subordinates and improving communication skills.

The paper's description of Cass under pressure is based on interviews with more than 20 Zynga's current and former employees and investors. Pincus declined the interview request, but he replied by email that "the rapid change in player habits and social technology have made a fundamental difference in Zynga, and it is inevitable that some employees will choose to leave when the business changes." ”

Many difficulties

It remains to be seen whether Pincus's efforts to reverse Zynga's operations will be successful. The company currently has a market capitalisation of $2 billion trillion, and other soon listed internet companies, such as Groupon and Facebook, struggled after the IPO, but the pressure on Zynga was particularly striking.

Since the IPO last December, the company's share price has fallen by as much as 75%, and many of its online games face a loss of players. Some of Facebook's changes also make it harder to spot Zynga's game on the social network, while other game rivals have been upgraded.

"The challenge for BTIG is how to create a great game with his assets--his developers--running away," said Richard Greenfield, an analyst at the US investment firm, Richard Greenfield. ”

Zynga's shares fell on the first day of trading, only slightly above the 10 dollar IPO offering, but the alarm bell didn't ring at that time. On the contrary, the company's problems began to emerge this April, when its newly acquired "you draw my guess" game player number is obviously in decline. Zynga spent $183 million to buy the game only 6 weeks after its launch.

Restructuring the mobile sector

Some of Zynga's main games on the Facebook platform are also slipping. Bing Gordon, a member of the Zynga board of Trustees, Kleiner venture capitalist, Bin Gordon, notes the trend.

Gordon points out that Zynga has not given priority to developing mobile games and found that its online games are not easily moved to the small screen of smartphones. "In terms of monetization and user experience, the difference between mobile game development is greater than anyone expected," he said. ”

At the same time, the morale of the company was also hit. Zynga's share price has entered a downward spiral. With the success of the early replication game becoming more difficult, employees are extremely dissatisfied with the direction of the company's development.

A 100-member senior staff team led by Jonathan Liu, the product director, questioned Pincus about morale in a meeting in May. Jonathan Liu said he told Pincus Zynga needed a clear strategic vision.

"Employees are unable to figure out what the company's main strategy is and why they are coming to Zynga every day," he said. He added that he had "almost growled" Ping Cass at the meeting. At the time, he said, the CEO nodded his approval.

In the following months, there were some changes in the operation. He drove away chief Operating Officer John Chabert (John Schappert) and restructured the mobile division to integrate it into various gaming studios, rather than being an independent department. He has also stepped up his foray into new businesses such as gaming.

Pincus also has a product meeting in his calendar, no longer shrinking the number of such meetings as before. He also exchanged his main mobile phone from BlackBerry to Zynga's beloved iphone.

Change doesn't work.

These measures are not helping to boost Zynga's share price and staff morale. Zynga's revenue growth slowed in July, its second-quarter deficit, and it lowered its full-year earnings forecasts. Its share price plunged from $5 to $3.

In addition, employees leave the day after day. In just three months, Zynga has lost a number of senior executives, including chief creative officer, Infrastructure chief technology officer, and engineering executive. This week, Zynga announced that its chief financial officer would resign from joining Facebook,twitter, announcing that it had hired Zynga's finance chief.

"Once your share price volatility is widely reported every day, any CEO must try to solve the problem of how to standardize his behavior," Gordon said. This summer, he suggested that Cass start contacting important executives to encourage them to stay.

The company's contradictions have worsened as a result of a mistake in the equity awards, which he was bombarded with after recovering some of his employees ' shares last year. At the end of July, he announced the first stock options grant scheme to cover all employees in an effort to motivate staff morale.

But Zynga's management team has different opinions on how to issue those options. Pincus tends to issue options to every employee, while other executives suggest offering only those rewards to senior employees. Zynga executives are finally compromised: everyone gets the option, but the best performers will get a bigger share.

When Zynga notifies employees to issue options, many people simply receive hundreds of stock options, which are granted in a few years, while others get a bigger share. According to two former Zynga employees, some employees even asked the company if they could turn down the option because they regarded it as an insult and a handout.

"The company's starting point is good, but I think we're going to see this as a lesson," said David Ko, the David Chief mobile director.

Improve communication and empowerment skills

At the same time, the Cass is also focused on improving his communication skills. He launched project whistle in September to provide a bridge between executives and staff. Over the past two months, the project has held more than 30 meetings, allowing the executives present to discuss Zynga's strategy and answer staff questions.

Campbell is also teaching the Cass to improve his licensing skills. Pincus has always enjoyed leading seminars and focused on details such as font selection, game color schemes, and more.

This week, Zynga announced the promotion of Chief Mobile Officer David as chief operating officer, and let another executive take charge of all the games. The company hopes that by doing so, Cass can focus on major product decisions.

Campbell noted that at the meeting earlier this month, he had noticed the progress of the Cass. At that time, the Cass prepared the agenda, and encouraged staff to participate in the discussion, there is no aggressiveness in the conversation.