Rosedale to Resign as CEO of Linden Lab
Linden Lab CEO Philip Rosedale announced today that he would be stepping down from his position. Once a replacement, someone with more managment experience, is found, he will become chairman of the board, replacing the current Mitch Kapor. He'll still be focusing on Linden Lab full-time, working on product development and strategy. “This is my life’s work,” he told Reuters in an interview. “I’m not going anywhere, and I’m still full-time on this, probably for the rest of my life.”
While the industry has seen a backlash against Second Life from mainstream press and users, Kapor insists that this is not in response to any company crisis, nor is it the beginnings of a sale or IPO, though the latter is an option that is still under consideration.
“We always knew this was a long-term project, operating on a different time frame from (other) venture-backed startups. At some sense it will make sense to go public but there’s no rush to that,” he told Reuters.
He added that the process could take months.
This is the second major change in executives for Linden Lab in just a few months. In December, CTO Corey Ondrejka, who is frequently credited with many of the developments of Second Life, left the company, reportedly over disagreements with Rosedale on direction for the virtual world developer.
This, though, sounds like a plan that Rosedale had been considering for some time.
“He looked at what he needed to be doing as a CEO, and what a CEO of a company this size does,” said Kapor. “That was really not the job he wanted to do.”
I'm sad.
Philip Loses His Second Life
http://secondthoughts.typepad.com/second_thoughts/2008/03/philip-loses-hi.html
It's an amazing thing, virtuality. You can be anything you want, and build a company, and people pay real money for the product.
It's good to turn off the virtual world and go outdoors now and then, though.
Philip always said he could make more money in Second Life as an inworld entrepreneur than a real-life company CEO, and I hope he takes the time to do this now!
Posted by: Prokofy Neva | March 14, 2008 at 01:02 PM
yes, maybe he will take cue from you Prokofy and become an androgynous, drama stirring windbag.
Posted by: lulz | March 14, 2008 at 09:09 PM
>> yes, maybe he will take cue from you Prokofy and become an androgynous, drama stirring windbag. Lulz.
Pity you didn't have just 5 minutes with my Mum, Lulz. She taught us that if you didn't have anything nice to say, you needn't exert yourself to bother saying it at all.
Posted by: Chaz Longstaff | March 17, 2008 at 11:05 AM