People on The Move, Sept. 30, 2022
Learfield job cuts and all the latest movements in the esports/gaming industry...
I in no way want to imply that Learfield purposely left job cuts out of a reorganization discussion that company CEO Cole Gahagan had with SBJ reporter Michael Smith earlier this week, but it does surprise me that those numbers weren’t included in a conversation about revamping and restructuring the company as streamline typically means that companies cut whatever resources (it believes) are being used up unnecessarily... More on this in our lead story! - James Fudge.
Learfield Cuts 68 Jobs
As part of a reorganization detailed by SBJ earlier this week, Learfield had to make several job cuts across all of its divisions. A spokesperson for the company told us Thursday that this amounts to about 67 employees, or 3% of its total global workforce being laid off—the company currently employs around 2,300 people around the world. Interestingly enough a note from Smith says this morning puts the number at 68. Learfield did not specify just how many employees were let go from its esports operations, which includes work related to collegiate esports league LevelNext.
As noted, Learfield did not include the number of jobs that were cut initially.
Read the full story on The Fudge Retort.
People on the Move
Here is this week’s list of promotions, hires, and departures in the gaming/esports industry:
Esports:
Cameron Bloom has left his roles as social media and community manager at Freaks 4U Gaming and as the social lead for VALORANT Champions Tour EMEA.
Oscar Dobbins joins Vulpine Esports as the lead of marketing and community management.
Hamish MacIntyre takes on the role of senior media rights manager at UK-based tournament organizer BLAST.
Virtus.Pro gets a new ownership group and a new CEO in Aram Karamanukyan.
G2 Esports founder and CEO Carlos Rodriguez resigns from the company.
Kieran Holmes-Darby sues EXCEL Esports, the company he co-founded.
Selina Liu is promoted to game producer at Riot Games, with a focus on gameplay systems & esports for Wild Rift.
Gaming:
Netflix nabs former Zynga exec Marko Lastikka to build a new Helsinki studio and serve as its director.
Kyle Ramos joins 2K Games as an associate social media manager for the NBA 2K series.
Kayla Mansell joins 2K Games as manager of global creator relations.
Dave Berard is promoted to the role of principal lead producer on Hearthstone at Blizzard Entertainment.
Rich Gallup exits OtherSide Entertainment to join Jackbox Games as director of production.
Bri Delgado has been promoted to game producer on the Overwatch series at Blizzard.
Kevin Lin, co-founder of Twitch, joins BAYZ in an advisory role related to web3 projects.
Former Blizzard exec Dean Ayala joins Riot Games as design director on League of Legends.
Brian Shanahan joins Riot Games as director of social.
Shawn Pierre is named the new chair of the Independent Games Festival.
Kasper Raaby Abrahamsen is promoted to the role of lead talent acquisition specialist at IO Interactive.
James Nicholls leaves his role as GM of NaturalMotion to join Parallel as VP, production studio.
42West/BHI promotes Jonah Keel to senior vice president and Briana Richard to VP of entertainment content & consumer products. Former Red Bull exec Blake Shuster joins the company as a new VP.
Other:
Brett Harrison steps down as president of FTX.
Jon Vlassopulos leaves Roblox to join Napster as its new CEO.
Adam Landeka is promoted to the role of senior product director (sportsbook platform and retail) at theScore.
Sarah Bergman leaves Twitter to join Dotdash Meredith as director of brand partnerships.
Joe Osborne joins PC Magazine as deputy managing editor, hardware.
Denny O'Leary is promoted to VP of corporate partnerships at the Los Angeles Lakers.
Cynthia Miller joins Paris Hilton's 11:11 Media team as director of web3 & metaverse.
Joey Clark is promoted to senior program manager, live sports production operations at Amazon's Prime Video
Jonathan Glennister is promoted to the role of UK country sales manager at Corsair.
In Other News
🔥 E3 Expo returns with fan and media focused offerings.
☠ Google’s Stadia is the latest game streaming service to rise and fall.
🕶 Florida Panthers ownership group buys out FlyQuest.
🚫 TikTok fights back against violent extremism on the platform.
💰 California Governor Gavin Newsom vetoes bill to regulate crypto.
😓 Juked will run out of funding by Oct. 7.
😭 Meta's $70M Metaverse money pit…
🥽 Walmart enters the metaverse.
🤜 Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot thinks games are better with developer friction…