888 duo in shock departure
Two senior 888 execs leave just three weeks after Gigi Levy's departure as senior independent non-executive director Brian Mattingley announces raft of personnel changes.
Two senior executives, including the CEO of B2B arm Dragonfish, have left 888 Holdings less than a month after Gigi Levy announced his departure, according to an internal memo seen by eGaming Review.
In a leaked internal email seen by eGaming Review this morning, Brian Mattingley, 888 senior independent non-executive director, who was brought in to work closely with management following Levy’s departure, addressed all staff and announced a wave of personnel changes including the immediate departure of David Zerah (pictured), CEO of Dragonfish and Adi Soffer-Te’eni, B2C managing director, both of whom have decided to “seek other opportunities”. When contacted an 888 spokesman refused to explain the reason why both executives had left the business.
David Zerah, chief executive of Dragonfish, only took up his post in August last year replacing former CEO Gabi Campos who left to join Pokerstars. It was expected that he would stay for a long period and guide 888’s B2B division into more newly regulated and soon-to-be regulated markets, and his sudden departure will come as a surprise to many industry observers. According to the email Zerah will be replaced by Yaniv Schwartz who will be promoted to senior vice president of Dragonfish.
In the memo Mattingley said he intends to be “more involved in the day-to-day business of the company” as part of the company’s aim to “ensure ongoing operational efficiency and excellence in our various sites and divisions”. He said he would also lead the search for a new CEO but that the company was not rushing the process as “we want to ensure the right person is chosen for this critical position”.
“Following Gigi’s recent departure, we’d like to ensure the continued pursuit of our business strategy as crafted by the company’s management team and reaffirmed by the board,” the email began.
“We are focused as ever on our goals “ further bolstering our B2C performance and leveraging our industry-leading casino, poker and bingo and sport offerings, while maintaining our Dragonfish brand presence and B2B deal pipeline. This strategy has led us to three consecutive growth quarters, with improving profitability.
“We also want to ensure we have the means to achieve these goals. Therefore, we are continuing our operations based on the current organisational structure, with a few adjustments.”
Other management team changes will include, effective immediately:
- Aviad Kobrine will continue in his role as board member and as the company’s chief financial officer, reporting to the CEO and in charge of all financial aspects of the group.
- Itai Frieberger will be promoted to chief operational officer, reporting to the CEO. In his new role, Itai will ensure all company divisions are coordinated and strive to streamline our day to day operations. Reporting to Itai will be:
- Eran Gonen will continue in his role as SVP customer support and business operations, with his current responsibilities.
- Sigal Srur will continue in her role as SVP HR and global operations, with her current responsibilities.
- Itai Pazner, SVP B2C, responsible for all B2C operations while continuing to lead the B2C casino business unit.
- Maytal Ginzburg will be promoted to SVP, B2C COO, facilitating the B2C ongoing operations. Maytal will continue to lead the B2C poker business unit.
- Hila Klein will be promoted to SVP, product technologies and will replace Itai Frieberger.
- Yaniv Sherman will be promoted to VP business development, responsible for all new business opportunities across the company, including Dragonfish sales efforts.