Former EA Exec Riccitiello To Replace Chair & CEO Probst

EA’s Probst To Step Down From Post In April

Electronic Arts (EA) will replace Chair & CEO LARRY PROBST with former President & COO JOHN RICCITIELLO. Probst was SBD/SBJ’s Sports Executive of the Year in ’05. The HOLLYWOOD REPORTER’s Paul Bond writes Probst, who has been EA CEO for 16 years, will step down April 2 but will continue as Exec Chair. Riccitiello left EA three years ago to help found private equity firm Elevation Partners, whose partners include U2’s BONO. Since Probst took over as CEO, EA “went from a company that generated about $100[M] in annual sales to almost” $3B. But Probst “recently has come under fire for relying too heavily on sequels to popular games — a charge EA executives call preposterous.” EA VP/Corporate Communications JEFF BROWN said, “You’d be hard-pressed to find any studio that’s placing bigger bets on new games” (HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, 2/27). Probst emphasized that Riccitiello “was his protégé and hand-picked successor — and the switch in no way diminishes Probst’s 16-year tenure as CEO.” Probst: “The right time to put a new CEO in place is when good times are ahead, as opposed to challenging times. That’s the recommendation I made to the board, and they agreed unanimously” (AP, 2/26).

REAX: Technology analyst DAVID GARDNER “praised Riccitiello’s experience as an executive” at companies like Sara Lee, Wilson Sporting Goods, Haagen-Dazs and Clorox (AP, 2/26). One former video game exec said of Riccitiello, “Since he left, EA has been a bit sloppy. [His return] is a positive move for EA” (OAKLAND TRIBUNE, 2/27). Pacific Crest Securities analyst EVAN WILSON said of EA, “The execution has been poor the last few years. I don’t think the company is doing this out of a position of strength.” Analysts added that Riccitiello is “well regarded on Wall Street and that his past operating experience at [EA], where he spent seven years, could be valuable in helping the company squeeze out new profits” (N.Y. TIMES, 2/27). At presstime, shares of EA were trading at $52.16, up 0.38% from yesterday’s close of $51.96 (THE DAILY).