Zynga: Bully or Meritocracy?
By EVELYN M. RUSLI
DealBook
New York Times
November 10, 1011, 6:23 pm
Mark Pincus has some explaining to do.
On Thursday, an article in The Wall Street Journal accused Zynga of clawing back shares from employees. In some instances, according to the report, the company threatened to fire employees if they did not surrender some shares. Not surprisingly, the article didn’t sit well with Twitter’s masses, who condemned the game maker’s behavior as “despicable,” “foolish” and according to some, simply “evil.”
Mr. Pincus, Zynga’s founder and chief executive, did not make a public statement — the company is muzzled by the mandated “quiet period” ahead of its initial public offering — but he did fire an internal e-mail to calm his staff.
Sidestepping specifics, he said The Journal’s report cast the company in a “false and skewed light.” He also described Zynga as a meritocracy, where every individual has the “same opportunity to lead,” according to a copy of the memo obtained by DealBook.
Here is the full copy of the memo:
Team,
The wall street journal posted a story last night (copied below) which paints our meritocracy in a false and skewed light. The story is based on hearsay and innuendo which is disappointing but is to be expected as we move towards becoming a public company.
We have nothing to hide in our past and present policies and I am proud of the ethical and fair way that we’ve built this company. As many of you have heard me say — we’re building a house that we want to live in.
Being a meritocracy is one of our core values and it’s on our walls. We believe that every employee deserves the same opportunity to lead. Its not about where or when you enter zynga its how far you can grow. This is what our culture of leveling up is all about and its one of our coolest features.
we want everyone to put zynga first and contribute to the overall success of our company and all of you have.
thanks,
mark
Fortune’s Dan Primack reported earlier on the memo.
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