Electronic Arts, world’s second biggest game publisher, plans to cut 1,500 jobs under CEO John Riccitiello. The move said to battle shrinking industry sales that have contributed to 11 straight quarterly losses, reports Bloomberg news. Electronic Arts posted a profit of 6 cents. Meanwhile, the giant decides to buy UK online-videogame developer Playfish, a company involved in making games for Facebook and MySpace. Bloomberg reports the purchase could be upwards of £240 million. Wall Street Journal reports the deal set at £165 million.
“At this point management must be feeling some pressure,” said Kaufman Brothers’ Todd Mitchell. Electronic Arts CEO Riccitiello decided management wasn’t to blame, instead he contended that weak Wii sales were. Not a hard trick to pull off when you cut jobs to buy jobs that already exist.
Via Bloomberg news
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