CEO Of “angry Birds” Maker Rovio Is Stepping Down

Beleaguered gaming company Rovio—the maker of the angry Birds franchise—introduced yet any other company shake-up as of late: Its CEO Pekka Rantala is stepping down.

The earlier yr has been a bumpy one for the Finnish company, which already decreased its team of workers with the aid of nearly a third in October, when it minimize 213 jobs in what it called a “huge reorganization.”

Rantala leaves a publish he held for slightly over three hundred and sixty five days (the corporate tells Reuters the cut up is amicable). He used to be in the past Rovio’s chief industrial officer and CEO of Finnish drinks maker Hartwall.

Chief legal officer Kati Levoranta will helm the company as crew CEO beginning in the new 12 months, according to Reuters. in the meantime, the company’s two major fingers—video games and media—will get their own CEOs. current head of external products Wilhelm Taht will oversee the gaming side, and Mikael Hed—Rantala’s predecessor as CEO and one in every of quick company‘s Most creative people in trade in 2011—will take over the media industry, Reuters stories.

“there’s a clear want for some consolidation to take place here (in Europe), and that’s one thing i am excited about,” Rovio chairman (and Mikael Hed’s father) Kaj Hed instructed Reuters.

That need for consolidation is the manufactured from a speedy expansion at Rovio during the last few years, wherein it has tried to turn itself right into a sprawling, Disney-like outfit, including a slew of media efforts to its gaming repertoire. within the spring of 2013, the company announced it could be producing a movie with Sony, however the unencumber of The offended Birds movie has been delayed within the three years considering the fact that. it’s now set for a may 2016 unencumber date.

previous this yr, the firm announced it might enter the younger adult novel space with Storm Sisters: a pirate-themed motion-journey sequence “with a female twist” (the corporate already produced offended Birds photograph novels).

When quick firm first profiled Rovio in 2012, the company used to be about to succeed in a massive inflection point. The angry Birds cell recreation and its sequels have been on the high of the App store charts, and the company was unexpectedly increasing the franchise’s merchandise—which might account for 40% of Rovio’s roughly $200 million revenue from licensing deals that yr.

however in 2013 Rovio saw its revenue increase flatline—and 2014 used to be even worse. Rovio’s product and licensing industry faltered, leading to a 9% decline in whole earnings and a whopping 73% decline in profits from 2013.

With as of late’s announcement, the corporate will refocus its energy on its two core industry of media and gaming, and seem to be to capitalize on the franchising and spin-off opportunities surrounding 2016’s movie unlock.