Dartmouth business professor Sydney Finkelstein has named Zynga CEO Mark Pincus as one of the five worst CEOs. Also an dishonorable mention on the list was Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg for his company’s stumbles after the initial IPO.
“Mark Pincus, the CEO of Zynga, the mobile gaming company that brought the world Farmville, among other online distractions. Zynga stock is down 75 percent so far this year, and the company is losing top executive talent. Pincus has a fairly illustrious pedigree — he got a bachelor’s degree in economics from Wharton in 1988 and his MBA from Harvard Business School in 1993,” writes Louis Lavelle. “But Finkelstein says he’s made some rookie mistakes, including hitching his company’s wagon much too securely to Facebook, which Zynga relies on for a big chunk of revenue. And he hardly expressed confidence in the company’s prospects with his move to unload 16 million shares after the IPO lockup period ended. Joe Libonati, a spokesperson for Zynga, declined to comment.”
Source: BusinessWeek.com
