Stillfront CEO Jörgen Larsson has been removed from the company he founded 14 years ago.
Chairperson Katarina Bonde said that the board had concluded it was time for new leadership ahead of a major restructuring of the firm’s operations.
The Swedish owner of Goodgame, Storm 8, Babel Games, Jawaker, Kixeye and more has appointed Alexis Bonte as interim CEO as the firm begins its search for a full time successor to Larsson.
Bonte is an existing member of Stillfront’s executive management team, and most recently held the position of president publishing and business acceleration. He has been with the firm since 2017.
Larsson’s departure comes in light of the group’s decision to divide its operations and reporting into three parts, splitting into European, North American and MENA/APAC businesses. The changes will come into effect on January 1 2025.
The company also previously said it is looking to “optimise” and “concentrate” its games portfolio by “addressing” underperforming titles to focus on its leading franchises.
“Stillfront has important work ahead to improve the company’s growth and achieve the cost savings communicated in connection with the announcement of a new management structure with operations divided into three business areas,” said Stillfront chairman Katarina Bonde.
“This is a new phase in Stillfront’s journey, and for this work to be driven offensively and with full force, the Board has concluded that a new leadership is the way forward for Stillfront.”
At the same time, the firm put out a trading update that said it expects lower than expected profitability in Q3, due to the increased UA costs.
Stillfront now expects to report EBITDAC of 385m SEK ($36.6m) in Q3 24, lower than expected. It blamed UA costs 33m SEK ($3.1m) higher than expected for the period, and also said that UA costs will come in at 29% of its net revenue, versus the previously expected 26%.
Net revenue is now expected to come in at 1,595m SEK ($151.6m), lower than the expected 1671m SEK ($158.8m). The firm will officially announce its Q3 earnings on October 23.
