The two men who founded Ngmoco are departing from their positions.
Founders Neil Young and Bob Stevenson are parting ways with the Ngmoco division of Japan’s DeNA mobile social network company.
Venture Beat was first to report the exit.
That’s a big change for the organization, since DeNA acquired Ngmoco for more than $403 million in the fall of 2010 as part of its plan to move into the U.S. market.
Based on details announced so far, Clive Downie, the vice president of studios for Ngmoco, will assume the position as chief executive of firm.
“Over the last several years, I’ve had the opportunity to run many different parts of our organization, which has afforded me full visibility into our operations,” Downie said after the departure of his colleagues was confirmed. “As we move into our next stage of growth, with our business starting to fire on all cylinders here in the West, I’m incredibly excited about our prospects and our mission to become the number one social mobile platform company in the world.”
“We couldn’t be happier that Clive, our long time colleague and friend is taking the reins of the Western business by becoming the new CEO,” Young says. “Our confidence in Clive and the momentum of DeNA’s business in the West makes this the right moment for us to move on to our next adventure.”