John Riccitiello Resigns from EA

<p>In a post on EA&&num;8217&semi;s <a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;ea&period;com&sol;news&sol;from-larry-probst-ea-leadership-transition">The Beat<&sol;a>&comma; the company&&num;8217&semi;s new Executive Chairman&comma; Larry Probst&comma; revealed the resignation of EA&&num;8217&semi;s CEO John Riccitiello&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;Today John Riccitiello submitted his resignation to EA’s Board of Directors&period;  In a letter to the Board&comma; John outlined that while the company has made enormous progress in improving product quality and transitioning to digital games and services&comma; our financial performance is tracking below the expectations set at the beginning of our fiscal year&period;  This was disclosed in our last earnings call&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Riccitiello&&num;8217&semi;s last day at EA has been set for March 30th&comma; with Probst stepping into the role of Executive Chairman in order to work with him and management to &&num;8216&semi;ensure a smooth and orderly transition&period;&&num;8217&semi; Probst was the CEO before Riccitiello from 1991 to 2007&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;As we begin the CEO search&comma; we are fortunate that Larry&comma; who has a proven track record with our employees&comma; partners and customers&comma; has agreed to assume a day-to-day leadership role as Executive Chairman&period; He has 16 years of experience as CEO of EA and a deep understanding of the Company&&num;8217&semi;s strategy&comma; management team&comma; business potential and industry trends&comma;&&num;8221&semi; stated Lead Director Richard A&period; Simonson&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;EA is an outstanding company with creative and talented employees&comma; and it has been an honor to serve as the Company&&num;8217&semi;s CEO&period; I am proud of what we have accomplished together&comma; and after six years I feel it is the right time for me pass the baton and let new leadership take the Company into its next phase of innovation and growth&period; I remain very optimistic about EA&&num;8217&semi;s future — there is a world class team driving the Company&&num;8217&semi;s transition to the next generation of game consoles&comma;&&num;8221&semi; said Riccitiello&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Riccitiello was initially hired to work at EA as their Chief Operating Officer in 1997 before leaving the company in &&num;8217&semi;04 to help start a private equity firm&semi; he later returned to EA in 2007 as their CEO&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&lbrace;Sources&colon; <a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;ea&period;com&sol;news&sol;from-larry-probst-ea-leadership-transition">The Beat<&sol;a>&comma; <a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;investor&period;ea&period;com&sol;releasedetail&period;cfm&quest;ReleaseID&equals;749234">EA<&sol;a>&rcub;<&sol;p>&NewLine;