Zynga Loses CMO Karp

by Mark Walsh, Sep 10, 2012, 4:47 PM

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Jeff Karp, Zynga's chief marketing and revenue officer, is the latest high-level executive to leave the embattled social games company. His resignation follows news earlier Monday that CTO of infrastructure Allan Leinwand was leaving Zynga to join cloud service company ServiceNow.

Other who have left in recent weeks include COO John Schappert, Chief Creative Officer Mike Verdu, and Alan Patmore, general manager of “CityVille,” one of Zynga's best-known games.

In a statement released Monday, the company said:

“Jeff Karp is leaving Zynga, and the groups in his organization have been realigned under appropriate existing divisions. Our marketing and revenue teams have always been industry leaders, and as we continue our transition toward mobile and multiplatform game creation and distribution, their continued execution will be key to our future success.”

Karp joined Zynga only about a year ago from gaming powerhouse Electronic Arts, where he was head of revenue for EA's Games label. The recent downturn in Zynga's stock price is a likely a key factor in the recent exodus of top managers from the company. It shares closed Monday at $2.82 after hitting a high of $14.69 on March 2.

Zynga reported a second-quarter loss, with adjusted earnings and revenue below Wall Street's modest expectations. It lost $22.8 million during the quarter, down from $1.4 million in the year-earlier period. The announcement of Karp's departure comes just days after Zynga released “FarmVille 2,” the sequel to its hugely popular farming sim game.

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