Philip Rosedale stepping down as Linden Lab CEO
by Tateru Nino 
Mar 14th 2008 at 12:15PM
Filed under: MMO industry, News items, Second Life, Virtual worlds
No, this isn't an April Fool's gag, before you ask. Philip Rosedale, founder and visionary of Linden Lab is stepping down as CEO and becoming board chairman as soon as a replacement can be found. Kapor, the current chairman and Linden Lab's largest investor will remain on Linden Lab's board of directors.
"It was not precipitated by a crisis," said current chairman Kapor, speaking to Reuters today. "We had always anticipated that there would be a time when he'd decide he no longer wanted to be a CEO."
We don't know about you, but we don't think that CEO is really where Rosedale wanted to be in the long run. Rosedale will remain on board at Linden Lab working on strategy and product development.
Update: Rosedale has put up a post on the Linden Lab blog, outlining the reasons for his departure from the CEO position. Essentially, Mr. Rosedale believes that the CEO position will increasingly be geared towards growing the Linden company. His best way of contributing, as he sees it, is from the sidelines offering vision for the future.[via Reuters]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Moo Money said on 12:13PM 3-14-2008
Can we please bring back Cory now?
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Jacek Antonelli said on 12:18PM 3-14-2008
Yeah, I can imagine how flying all over the place and giving talks and stuff could wear a person out.
Hopefully, now Philip will have more time to do things like pose for magazine covers. And underwear adverts. Did someone say, "Fruit of the Loom brand codpiece"?
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Ryker said on 12:35PM 3-14-2008
Amen to that, Jacek. LOL!
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Erbo Evans said on 12:59PM 3-14-2008
After the initial shock, I can't say as the news surprises me. Philip strikes me more as the techno-geek type of guy, not the genetic-entrepreneur Andre Durand type of guy. This should free him up to do more of what he loves best, while still keeping him in a position of authority. It's similar in some respects to Bill Gates stepping back from the CEO role at Microsoft and becoming chairman and "Chief Software Architect." I recommend keeping an eye on things to see who gets picked as his replacement, but otherwise it's business-as-usual.
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Graham Mills said on 1:58PM 3-14-2008
I wonder whether this is one of the reasons Cory left?
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MChavez said on 11:37AM 3-15-2008
I really enjoyed my time in Second Life. But, unfortunately, they need to do much more in the graphics department as well as allowing users to be able to control what they see from their own parcel. What killed this virtual world for me was dropping $200 on some new mainland (sorry not interested in estates, I want to be able to do what I want) only to see it quickly invaded by spammers who split the parcels up into the tiniest size possible and put ad cubes up all over the place. It killed immersion. It would have been nice if I could disable objects from being "viewed" from my own parcel but LL does not provide enough tools to land owners who truly wish to make their own worlds (and this SHOULD include what I see and don't see from my parcel). In the end, there isn't much done to curb ad spammers. I love the concept of a virtual world, but I'll be waiting for a next-gen version to appear.
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Graham Mills said on 7:11AM 3-17-2008
Despite my comment, IMHO this is overall a positive development though it depends to some extent, of course, on who they appoint as Philip's replacement.
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Krystalle Voecks said on 7:22AM 3-17-2008
Please do not attempt to use comments on our site as an advertising medium for your new service. It's not only an excellent way to get banned, it's also a fantastic way to ensure that nobody does business with you.
Thanks.
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BasilBrush Dufaux said on 2:17PM 3-18-2008
@Erbo been my thought since it happened and I am surprised no commentators I have seen have made the comparison to Bill Gates. I just hope this does not work out as bad as the side-lining of Steve Jobs that almost destroyed the Apple until they appointed a saviour - called Steve Jobs.
@Krystalle what or who are you talking about?
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