Valleywag
Linden Lab, which operates the Second Life virtual world, has found a new CEO: Mark Kingdon, the longtime chief of Organic, an online ad agency. A bizarre move for Linden, and seemingly for Kingdon. Sophisticated marketers, having toyed with Second Life, agree that it's a nonstarter as an advertising medium. Linden Lab makes its money from serving as a virtual central bank and a taxing authority. IBM is interested in it largely as a substitute for teleconferencing. Philip Rosedale, the founder and outgoing CEO, is a dreamy technologist, but replacing him with an adman makes no sense. An enterprise-software salesman would have made more sense.
As for Kingdon, moving from Organic, a respected agency, to a much-derided startup, would seem a step down. "I'm interested in the whole notion of social computing in three dimensions," he told the Wall Street Journal. Nonsense; Kingdon is surely interested in money. Linden Lab may not be his meal ticket, but it is backed by Benchmark Capital, the powerful venture firm behind eBay. Kingdon's assignment will surely be to get Linden Lab sold, at which point Benchmark will likely reward him with a more promising CEO job. For that task, and that task alone, a silver-tongued marketer actually may fit the bill.
Comments
Kingdon is a bean counter. When he came to Organic back in 2001 his sole concern, which he stated openly, was to keep the company afloat at any cost - which pretty much meant canning everyone who did any actual work. Kingdon ultimately achieved his goal but he slashed and burned Organic's culture in order to do so.
I don't know if he's looking to Benchmark to give him a better assignment after this stint, but I think you're right on about the reason for his going to Linden. If you work at Linden be forewarned - you're in for a bumpy ride...
Lets not forget that he named himself Chief Creative Officer. You always know what to do when bean counters pull that move...
Linden is doomed. As soon as they killed all the "gambling" I quit going there. It was the world's best online poker venue, but now it is nothing. The only way to save it is to move all the operations outside the United States and open it up for gambling again.
Hate to say it but it's rumored that the hippie Google "20%" stuff is RAMPANT at LL. Maybe that slash and bean counting (smirk) will help them alittle.
There are plenty of cute fursuit/getafirstlife jokes to be made, but for those that know what they are talking about, there is a list of 2349870239482 things that make SL suck from a purely technical perspective.
Oh Come on, this is a complete sham. Anyone who thinks that Philip Rosedale who has "stepped down" as CEO
Absurd. Anyone who thinks that Philip Rosedale has "stepped down" isn't paying attention to how Linden does things. What CEO leaves a company but doesn't really leave? This guy is a puppet and Philip will still be pulling the strings.
The cult cannot function without Philip leading, K?
100% agreed w. BigDaddyBear.
I interviewed to work there a while ago (got an offer, turned it down) and there is no doubt that it is an absolute cult of personality over there. Rightly so, Philip is amazing. Him stepping down is nothing but appeasing Gurley and the investors. Everyone in the know understands that Philip will continue to 100% call the shots.
I'm sorry, but what kind of a loser would use "Second Life"? Is that for people who don't already have one, or perhaps more to the point, have a really crappy one? Who has time for more than one life? Why does my mind bloggle when I try to understand the appeal of something like this?
Moreover, how does this guy explain his job to people back home at Xmas parties? "I am the God of a fake world where people turn themselves into cartoons and type to each other?" WTF?
@Rachel probably the same losers who run around saving fantastical worlds (and earth, too!) from forces of darkness, making that little cottage industry known as video gaming. What's a few billion dollars between losers, eh?
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