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Off with its head: Zynga loses Beijing boss Andy Tian

Shares drop for second straight day

Off with its head: Zynga loses Beijing boss Andy Tian
Andy Tian, head of Zynga's Beijing game studio, has announced he is to step down from his position at the company at the end of June.

First reported by the Wall Street Journal, Zynga later confirmed Tian's forthcoming departure, claiming he is leaving the social gaming giant to "return to his entrepreneurial roots."

Nevertheless, news of Tian's departed wreaked further havoc on Zynga's stock, which dropped 6.8 percent in response.

Exodus

While Zynga's operations in China will continue with former EA exec John Yin stepping in to fill Tian's role, commetators continue to question whether recent turbulent times at the studio are evidence of longterm systemic problems.

Indeed, Tian's departure follows a massive reduction in Zynga's staff earlier in June that saw 18 percent of its workforce downsized and led to the closure of OMGPOP.

Following the layoffs, Scott Devitt - an analyst for Morgan Stanley - downgraded Zynga's stock and suggested that the social games maker might need to trim even more staff to compensate for a declining userbase.

[source: Wall Street Journal]

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Representing the former colonies, Matt keeps the Pocket Gamer news feed updated when sleepy Europeans are sleeping. As a frustrated journalist, diehard gamer and recovering MMO addict, this is pretty much his dream job.