Friday, March 14, 2008

Linden Lab CEO Philip Rosedale Stepping Down


The Reuters news agency reports very big news today: Linden Lab's founder Philip Rosedale (Philip Linden) will be stepping down as Chief Executive Officer to become chairman of the board.

The agency reports that LL is looking for a CEO with more management experience. The move will be completed when they found the right candidate.

By becoming chairman, Mr. Rosedale will take the seat of Mitch Kapor, who will remain a board director and investor.

In the business world, founders who move to the chairman post are generally the visionaries who keep looking after their creation, but who leave the day-to-day operations to someone else. LL is saying that this change was expected to happen at some point.

Such changes sometimes work but sometimes they don't. The biggest known companies that had their founders return to "fix it all" in the last years have been Apple, Dell and Starbucks.

On the other hand, it is very difficult to compare their situations with Linden Lab since CEOs often become chairmen when their business is thriving. Linden Lab's situation is different since Philip Rosedale will be stepping down exactly when Second Life growth is less stellar than it used to be.

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