It could just be coincidence, or it could signal something more significant but following the surprise departure of Shanda Games' CEO, another NASDAQ-floated Chinese publisher has lost its CEO at short notice.

This time, the company is Changyou (NASDAQ:CYOU), which has announced that Tao Wang has resigned as its CEO "for personal reasons".

Time to rethink

Certainly the situation isn't the same as Shanda, which throughout 2014 has been struggling ineffectually to deal with a $1.9 billion move to take the company private.

Nevertheless, Changyou hasn't been in rude health recently with FY14 Q3 net income down 95 percent year-on-year, and FY14 Q2 income down 97 percent year-on-year.

The reason is that the company's core PC online games such as Tian Long Ba Bu and Wartune are now maturing but it doesn't have the ability to replaced lost sales either with client PC games, or web or mobile games; the latter only making up a small part of overall company revenues.

Two heads

In terms of Wang's replacement , the CEO position has been split with Carol Yu, president and CFO of subsidiary Sohu, and Changyou president Dewen Chen, taking co-CEOs roles.

"On behalf of the Board and Sohu, I would like to thank Tao for his extraordinary contribution in leading Changyou to become one of the most premier online game companies in China," said Yu.

"Tao has played a vital role in creating the legendary Tian Long Ba Bu and other popular games which gained remarkable success.

"In his continued capacity as a member of the Board, Tao will continue to serve Changyou with his industry insights and inspirations. In my new capacity, I will work closely with Dewen to build on the strong foundations Tao has built over his 10-year tenure."

[source: Changyou]