Zynga lures away rival mobile gaming chief

Online game maker Zynga Inc has lured away an executive from rival Electronic Arts Inc. The hiring of Barry Cottle, announced on Thursday, underscores the escalating rivalry between rapidly growing Zynga and Electronic Arts, a video game stalwart. Cottle, 50, had been overseeing Electronic Arts' push into mobile and online gaming for the past four years. The diversification beyond packaged video games has paid off. In a memo sent to Electronic Arts' employees on Thursday, CEO John Riccitiello said the company's digital revenue surpassed $1 billion (Dh3.67 billion) for the first time last year. Zynga has emerged as a major competitor with series of hit games such as FarmVille and Mafia Wars, that have primarily been played on Facebook's social network. In an effort to become less dependent on Facebook, Zynga is trying to expand its reach. It's counting on Cottle to help it realise those ambitions as its executive vice-president of business and corporate development. The company didn't disclose how much it's paying Cottle. Successful IPO Zynga is currently flush, having just raised $1 billion in an initial public offering of stock completed last month. It's the most money raised by a US internet company since Google Inc went public in 2004. Investors so far aren't embracing Zynga like they did Google, whose stock price has never dipped below its IPO price of $85 per share. Zynga's shares, in contrast, still haven't closed above their IPO price of $10. The stock finished Thursday at $8.45, up 12 cents.