It came as a surprise for many when Rovio recently announced that Pekka Rantala had stepped down as the CEO of the famous Angry Birds maker, so what’s going on at Rovio?
Well, apparently the studio has realized that a more agile and entrepreneurial leadership structure was needed so as to more quickly respond to the constantly increasing competition in the mobile space.
New Rovio CEO, Kati Levonranta
So who will the new chief in town be? Her name is Kati Levoranta, and she has been working at Rovio since 2012 as their Chief Legal Officer, and since March 2015, she has also been heading the company’s sales for the EMEA region (Europe, Middle East and Africa).
Rantala will be stepping down as of January 1st 2016, and Levorante will be ready to take over the famous studio.
Other changes at Rovio include re-positioning former Rovio CEO and co-founder, Mikael Hed, who will be leading Rovio’s media business, which includes the upcoming Angry Birds Movie.
And lastly, Wilhelm Taht, who have previous served as the Head of Rovio Stars, Rovio’s publisher of games produce by third-party developers, will be leading the company’s games business in the future.
Rovio has had a tough 2015, with layoffs both in late 2014, where it fired 110 employees, and again in October 2015, where it had to lay off 37% of the remaining workforce.
But out of the ashes, it seems that a new, and way more agile, Rovio studio emerges.
“As we move into the next phase of the Rovio story, we will be getting back to our entrepreneurial roots with the leaner, more agile organization that Pekka leaves us with. Kati Levoranta has been an inspirational presence at Rovio since 2012, and I am certain that she is the right leader to empower the business units and take us to new successes in all our businesses,” says Kaj Hed, Rovio´s Chairman.
Only time can tell if these changes will be enough to turn around the studio for good, but at least the managing team at Rovio are trying hard, and it will be interesting to see how the company will perform in 2016.