- Zynga founder Mark Pincus announced in a
- The decision to scrap the dual class stock structure is an unexpected move, at a time when tech founders from Mark Zuckerberg to Evan Spiegel are holding on to power with super voting stock.
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Zynga founder Mark Pincus is giving up his 70% voting control of the company (ZNGA)
Zynga founder Mark Pincus will no longer be a full time employee of the company, but will be non-executive chairman. His super voting shares will become ordinary stock with 1 vote per share.
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Zynga founder Mark Pincus is doing something unexpected in the world of powerful tech entrepreneurs: he's giving up control of the company he founded.
In a Medium post on Wednesday, Pincus announced that he will convert his super voting shares in the company into plain old Class A common stock. That means that Zynga will no longer be a "controlled company" with a dual class stock structure in which Pincus wields 70% of the voting power.
Pincus' stake in the online gaming company will still have the same economic value, but he will now only control about 10% of the vote.
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The move represents the first big reversal of the controversial dual class stock structure that has been embraced by tech executives from Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg to Snap's Evan Spiegel.
"Its a good time to evolve my role again"
Along with the change in structure, Zynga announced that Pincus will no longer be a full time employee of the company. He will become non-executive Chairman of the company.
Pincus returned to the position of CEO at Zynga, the company with 300 million players behind social games like Words With Friends and Zynga Poker, in 2015 in the midst of rocky financial times that resulted in the resignation of Zynga's CFO. In 2016, Pincus was replaced by then-chairman Frank Gibeau.
Pincus cites Zynga's steadiness as the reason for his new role: After a rocky few years, cash flow from operations are now in positive territory, and mobile bookings have increased. That said, Zynga's stock has languished in the $3-$5 range for about six years, after listing at $10 a share in a 2011 IPO that valued the company at $7 billion.
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Pincus was cagey about what he will do next, besides serving as non-executive chairman for Zynga.
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