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Second Life founder returns to CEO job
The founder of Linden Lab, the makers of virtual world Second Life, is taking over as CEO just weeks after the firm cut 30% of its workforce. Philip Rosedale will serve as interim CEO, replacing Mark Kingdon who took the reins at the company from Rosedale two years ago. Kingdon was hired to provide a more business-focused approach to the virtual network, which was failing to live up to the hype that accompanied its first few years. But though Second Life remains relatively popular, it has failed to achieve the success many predicted. The shake-up will also see Linden Labs CFO Bob Komin given the additional title of COO.
"Our thinking... is that my returning to the CEO job now can bring a product and technology focus that will help rapidly improve Second Life," says Rosedale in a blog post. "We need to simplify and focus our product priorities -- concentrating all our capabilities on making Second Life easier to use and better for the core experiences that it is delivering today. I think that I can be a great help and a strong leader in that process."
Second Life attracted a huge amount of attention in the years following its launch in 2003 and many businesses flocked to open virtual storefronts in a bid to capitalise on what was expected to be the next big trend on the web. But many of those virtual stores have now closed and the firm has abandoned attempts to focus on corporations and is returning to its consumer roots. The recent staff cuts are thought to have removed Linden Labs' enterprise division, which was building a version of Second Life aimed at businesses.
Despite never achieving the breakout success many predicted, Second Life has managed to maintain its user base, while rival virtual worlds close. Though many firms have abandoned their Second Life outlets, users have started their own in-game businesses supporting a healthy virtual economy. Linden Labs claims that virtual-goods transactions were up 30% in the first quarter of the year, and unique monthly users rose 13% in March.
