Activision’s Guitar Hero franchise has a new boss.
Dan Rosensweig, former Yahoo COO and current Quadrangle Group partner, will take on the role as CEO and president.
While Rosensweig has no gaming experience, he is close to Activitions Chairman and CEO Bobby Kotick, who served on Yahoo’s board for years while Rosensweig was an executive there.
It’s an interesting move for Rosensweig, who’s name has come up for some prominent positions, including Yahoo’s job search. He’s also been in a private equity position for the last several years since 2007, when Quandrangle hired him to run a Silicon Valley office. One of the more recent deals Rosensweig led was a $335 million investment in Mail.com.
But the shift in Rosensweig’s focus makes sense in today’s tough economic times. It’s tough to invest in startups these days. Quadrangle’s Steve Rattner left the firm in February to lead the Obama Administration’s Treasury Department as lead advisor on the auto-industry bailout. And, the Quadrangle Media Fund was shut down last year.
Here’s the press release:
SANTA MONICA, Calif., March 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Further
strengthening its senior management team, Activision Publishing, Inc.
(Nasdaq: ATVI – News)
announced today that Dan Rosensweig has been named President and Chief
Executive Officer of RedOctane, the business unit which develops the
blockbuster Guitar Hero® franchise and soon to be released DJ Hero(TM).
Mr.
Rosensweig will oversee Guitar Hero’s global operations including game
development, hardware manufacturing, supply chain, logistics and
marketing. He will report directly to Mike Griffith, President and CEO
of Activision Publishing. Kai Huang, former President and CEO of
RedOctane, who along with his brother Charles Huang created Guitar
Hero, will continue working at RedOctane reporting to Mr. Rosensweig.
Mr.
Rosensweig brings significant experience to Activision having served as
Chief Operating Officer of Yahoo! from 2002 through 2006, where he
oversaw the company’s worldwide operations including its product
development, marketing, and advertising sales and the development and
introduction of inventive new Internet advertising formats.
Additionally,
he spent 18 years at Ziff Davis, most recently serving as President
where he was responsible for the global operations of the company and
the successful merger of ZDNet and CNET. He held several senior
positions during his tenure at Ziff-Davis, including President and
Chief Executive Officer of ZDNet, which he built from a standalone
Ziff-Davis company to a publicly traded, highly trafficked Internet
network, President of Ziff-Davis Internet Publishing Group and
Vice-President and Publisher of PC Magazine.
Prior to joining
Activision, from 2007 – 2009, Mr. Rosensweig served as an operating
principal at Quadrangle Group, a private investment firm, where he
focused on the firm’s media and communications private equity business.
“Under
the leadership of Kai and Charles, Guitar Hero established the music
gaming genre and became a global phenomenon,” said Mike Griffith. “With
the addition of Dan’s proven operational expertise and leadership, we
will continue expanding the franchise’s global footprint in new and
innovative ways. Dan’s deep understanding of how consumers can be
entertained online will be invaluable as we continue to build Guitar
Hero’s complementary growth channels, further establish the franchise
as an innovative music platform and develop relationships with new
business partners.”
Robert Kotick, Chief Executive Officer of
Activision Blizzard noted, “I had the great pleasure of working with
Dan during his tenure at Yahoo!. Dan has a rare combination of deep
business expertise, entrepreneurial instincts and an incredible passion
for music. We are looking forward to leveraging his proven online
experience to build upon the billions of hours of entertainment we
deliver each year in the Guitar Hero network.”
“I am extremely
excited for this opportunity to work with the talented Guitar Hero
team, which has transformed the interactive entertainment landscape,”
said Mr. Rosensweig. “With a platform and content that universally
engages a wide range of audiences, Guitar Hero has incredible growth
potential. I look forward to continuing to develop Guitar Hero into an
even more successful enterprise.”
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