Atari worldwide announced today that they will have a new CEO for the company. Jeff Lapin will be taking over for former CEO David Gardner, who will step down from the position but retain his Director functions. Lapin has been the COO (Chief Operating Officer) for the company since May 2009 and a Director since 2007.
As the CEO of Atari’s global operations, Lapin will be running the business from Los Angeles as well as the Executive Committee that includes Jim Wilson (CEO of Atari Inc.), John Needham (CEO of Cryptic Studios Inc.), Fabrice Hamaide (CFO of the Group), and Alexandra Fichelson (General Secretary). Lapin has had experience with executive functions in the past with RazorGator Interactive Group, Take-Two Interactive Software, and THQ.
"For the last 2 years, first as a Director of the Board and then as COO, I have contributed to the transformation of Atari," said Lapin. "It has been a challenging time, which resulted in a new publishing strategy with a strong online focus and a shift of the operations to the US. We will launch our second MMO game – Star Trek Online – in February 2010. I am excited to take on these new responsibilities at this important time and look forward to developing Atari’s strategy to bring the company back to profitability."
Lapin will not be getting a raise of any sort, as Atari has stated he "will benefit from the same compensation package he had as a Chief Operating Officer, which had been set by the Board of Directors upon recommendation of the Compensation and nomination committee i.e. an annual fixed gross compensation of €400,000 [approximately $585,000] and an annual variable compensation, subject to the achievement of performance criteria, up to €200,000." This also includes 900,000 stock options.
It is unclear as to why exactly Gardner stepped down. Atari is yet to comment on the reason.
