Zynga seeks to avoid exec departures with salary boosts
Senior management team sees salaries almost double " Pincus to be paid just US$1 in 2013.
Zynga has almost doubled the salaries of its core executive team in a move designed to avoid a repeat of last year’s management exodus.
The company last night filed an 8-K Form with the Securities and Exchange Commission related to the management team’s compensation, which revealed that salaries for six key employees have doubled in 2013.
As a result chief revenue officer Barry Cottle, president of games Steve Chiang, COO David Ko, executive vice president and CTO Cadir Lee have seen their basic pay rise to US$500,000, with all receiving cash and equity bonuses exceeding $1m if certain targets are met over the course of the year. Meanwhile executive vice president Reggie Davis and CFO Mark Vranesh have seen their salaries rise to $425,000, with similar bonus packages also awarded.
Chief executive Mark Pincus, on the other hand, has had his salary reduced to just $1, and will not receive any bonuses in 2013. This move, however, is common for tech CEOs.
Zynga said in the filing that the increased packages are designed to “retain and incentivise” the management team. It went on to explain that the rise was decided after a number of the team took on extra roles over the course of 2012, due in part to a number of high-level departures.
These included COO John Schappert, chief marketing and revenue officer Jeff Karp and CFO David Wehner, with CIO Debra Chrapaty the most recent C-level employee to leave, departing late last month.
The news comes after the company announced the launch of its first real-money gambling products earlier this week. UK customers can now play for cash on ZyngaPlusPoker and ZyngaPlusCasino, developed in partnership with bwin.party.