tech:

taffy

Game On: Third Electronic Arts Exec Moves To Zynga

 

[By Sudarshana Banerjee]


Zynga has hired EA’s executive vice president Barry Cottle as its executive vice president, Business and Corporate Development.  The hiring is quite a coup, and not just because Mr. Cottle oversaw digital games efforts, including mobile, social and casual online games at EA Interactive. Mr. Cottle is the third executive to jump ship from EA over the last year or so.

Mr. Cottle brings to Zynga over twenty years of experience in entertainment, technology and games. He was formerly chief internet officer and chief operating officer of the Wireless and Content division at Palm, and and prior to that he spent over nine years at Walt Disney where he served as senior vice president of marketing at Disney Televentures and chief marketing officer of Americas.

Mr. Kottle  received his master’s degree in business administration from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and his bachelor’s degree from Missouri State University.

Electronic Arts’ chief operating officer John Schappert is now COO of Zynga. Zynga’s chief marketing and revenue officer Jeff Karp also comes from EA, yet another executive vice president, with EA Play.

Who might be next in the league of Zynga’s extraordinary gentlemen?  “It’s rare that you find someone who possesses a deep operational background and also has the vision to see where your business and your industry are headed,” says Mark Pincus, founder and CEO of Zynga. “

Just in

Apple sued in a landmark iPhone monopoly lawsuit — CNN

The US Justice Department and more than a dozen states filed a blockbuster antitrust lawsuit against Apple on Thursday, accusing the giant company of illegally monopolizing the smartphone market, writes Brian Fung, Hannah Rabinowitz and Evan Perez.

Google is bringing satellite messaging to Android 15 — The Verge

Google’s second developer preview for Android 15 has arrived, bringing long-awaited support for satellite connectivity alongside several improvements to contactless payments, multi-language recognition, volume consistency, and interaction with PDFs via apps, writes Jess Weatherbed. 

Reddit CEO Steve Huffman is paid more than the heads of Meta, Pinterest, and Snap — combined — QZ

Reddit co-founder and CEO Steve Huffman has been blasted by Redditors and in media reports over his recently-revealed, super-sized pay package of $193 million in 2023, writes Laura Bratton. 

British AI pioneer Mustafa Suleyman joins Microsoft — BBC

Microsoft has announced British Artificial Intelligence pioneer Mustafa Suleyman will lead its newly-formed division, Microsoft AI, according to the BBC report. 

UnitedHealth Group has paid more than $2 billion to providers following cyberattack — CNBC

UnitedHealth Group said Monday that it’s paid out more than $2 billion to help health-care providers who have been affected by the cyberattack on subsidiary Change Healthcare, writes Ashley Capoot.