Zynga Poker GM Laurence Toney Quits Zynga

Zynga Poker GM Laurence Toney Quits Zynga October 11, 2012 October 11, 2012 Tim Glocks https://www.poker-online.com/author/tim
Posted on  Oct 11, 2012 | Updated on  Oct 11, 2012 by Tim Glocks

Zynga Inc has been recently plagued by a number of problems, chief among them being a steady fall of revenue and exodus of employees. The gaming company suffered a severe blow recently when its chief executive, who was in charge of its most important online poker game, parted ways with the company.

Laurence “Lo” Toney, former general manager (poker) at Zynga, announced on LinkedIn that he has quit his job with Zynga. Shortly after this announcement, AllThingsD confirmed the news that Toney has indeed quit Zynga.

Toney has quit at a crucial point of time when the company is mulling over exploring the real money gambling sector in order to generate annual revenue in billions of dollars.

Despite its troubles, Zynga is still the home of the most popular poker game in the world. Zynga’s revenue recently plummeted when its users stopped playing its Facebook games such as CityVille and FarmVille in favour of newer games.

Zynga’s poker game allows players to play with virtual chips. The income generated by this fun-only version of poker is just a fraction of the income that a real money poker game can generate. However, unfriendly poker laws, especially in the US, have prevented the company from launching real money poker games in a bid to generate the revenue it badly requires.

Toney, who has been working at Zynga since 2010, informed AllThingsD that he hasn’t made any plans for the future. Meanwhile, the value of Zynga’s stock has fallen by over 70%, with its IPO price being $2.43 on Monday.

It may be recalled that John Schappert, chief operating officer; Mike Verdu, chief creative officer; and Jeff Karp, chief marketing officer, also quit their jobs at Zynga Inc. recently.

Meanwhile, Electronic Arts, Zynga Inc’s top rival, has already hired several of Zynga’s former employees. According to Electronic Arts, Zynga employees can easily find jobs anywhere in the gaming industry. Gabrielle Toledano, vice president (human resources) at Electronic Arts, said,

Zynga people have good skills and experience. They’ll have no trouble finding jobs elsewhere in the game industry.

Zynga’s financial situation was quite good in 2011 and it was head and shoulders above Electronic Arts, financially. But today, Zynga is floundering in a number of problems, including a case filed against it by Electronics Arts and public criticism of some of its industry practices. Although Electronic Arts is not very fond of Zynga, it definitely likes Zynga’s former employees.

Tim GlocksAuthor

Tim Glocks is a retired professor, he currently contributes to Poker-Online.com. Tim enjoys playing poker and has taken it up as a hobby since his retirement. He has taken part in many online tournaments and has become a veteran in a short space of time. Visit Tim’s google + page here