Zynga Inc (ZNGA) New CEO To Get Millions For Quitting Microsoft

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Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA) offered a $5 million signing bonus to new CEO Don Mattrick along with stocks valued at $40 million in order to entice him to leave Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) where he was in charge of Microsoft’s Xbox console for Video games.

Zynga Inc (ZNGA) New CEO To Get Millions For Quitting Microsoft

Compensation package

 According to a regulatory filing, apart from the above perks, Mattrick will also receive $1 million annual salary and guaranteed bonus of around $1 million this year. Don Mattrick will hold the position currently held by the company’s founder Mark Pincus.

Mattrick has been awarded 8.9 million of shares of restricted stock in order to counterbalance the compensation, which Mattrick surrendered by quitting Microsoft. According to Zynga Inc. (NASDAQ:ZNGA), the shares are valued a bit more on paper but will not be vested until July 2016.

Mattrick is also entitled to get 1.8 million shares of its restricted stock, which is valued at $5 million. Apart from that 7.4 million stock options worth $10 million will also be given to Mattrick.

In the next year, Mattrick will be awarded the next batch of stock worth $7 million and a cash bonus from $2 million to $4 million.

Zynga betting on Mattrick

Troubled game maker Zynga Inc. (NASDAQ:ZNGA) is betting on Mattrick to rebound the company, which has been into losses and the stock price has declined 66 percent from the IPO price of $10 in late 2011.

After the announcement that Mattrick will be the new CEO, the share price of Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA) surged 20 percent higher than where it was before the news. The surge in the price reflects the confidence of investors on Mattrick.

Mattrick will be responsible for devising turnaround strategy for Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA), and will work in close association with the majority stake holder, Chairman and Chief product officer of Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA), Mark Pincus.

The compensation and packages of Mattrick will be evaluated to be more or less on the basis of the performance of the company and stock over the next few years. Mattrick was roped in by Zynga after the social game maker cut off more than 500 employees in order to contain its cost.

The amount of compensation received by Mattrick was not disclosed by Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) while it revealed the compensation structure of other top line executives.

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