Four months after CEO Mark Kingdon left the San Francisco-based Linden Lab, the company behind erstwhile hot virtual world, Second Life, interim CEO and founder Philip Rosedale is getting real too. He is leaving the company he started in 1999 in order to pursue his new idea – LoveMachine, a collaboration software company. In a message to the Second Life community, he wrote:
After about four months as interim CEO, working closely with Bob Komin, the management team, and the board, we’ve decided we are ready to start the search for a new CEO. I’ll be leaving day-to-day management of the company and continuing in my role on the board, including helping in the search to find a great CEO. I will also be continuing my work with my new company, LoveMachine. Bob will lead Linden Lab while we conduct the search. It’s been an intense few months of transition, and we all feel like we are in a better place now, with a clearer sense of direction and more focus, and are ready to bring someone new into the mix as a leader.
Second Life was one of the hottest virtual worlds during the early part of the decade but its fortunes have slumped over past few years as it has started to lose attention to newer virtual environments and other shinier distractions. It would be tough for the company to regain its former glory and perhaps that is a good enough reason for its founder to move on to newer pastures.
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Photo of Philip Rosedale courtesy of Wikipedia
