Haute 100

Mark Pincus Steps Down From Operational Role At Zynga
Zynga announced that founder Mark Pincus will be relinquishing all day-to-day operational duties and stepping down from his role as Chief Product Officer. The former CEO of the social gaming company will keep his title as Chairman of the Board of Directors.  The announcement comes shortly after Zynga announced its quarterly earnings – a revenue decrease of 36% compared to the first quarter of 2013 and a decrease of 5% compared to the fourth quarter of 2013 – just nine months after the company announced Pincus would hand over the CEO role to longtime Microsoft executive Don Mattrick. Since then, the company has lost several executives and gone through a round of layoffs that cuts its workforce by fifteen percent. Pincus said that he still plans on being present at the company, though will reduce his face time to one day a week at most, and will initially spend his time doing personal investing.

Vernon Davis Named First-Ever Athlete To Be Traded As Stock
San Francisco 49ers tight end Vernon Davis has put his personal brand up for sale, making him the world’s first athlete to be publically traded. San Francisco-based brokerage firm Fantex will be handling the deal, which will pay Davis $4 million in exchange for ten percent of his future earnings, including some of his off-field income. To cover Davis’ fee, Fantex seeks to sell 421,100 shares of stock at $10 a piece. Davis, 30, will need to make more than $40 million just to deliver a small return on Fantex’s investment. The firm is counting on him to earn most of that money after his current contract with the 49ers expires in 2015. The income will come from Davis’ career football earnings dating back to last October, as well as any money he makes from off-the-field endorsements or other jobs, such as sports broadcasting, that he’ll receive for the rest of his life.

Marissa Mayer Reports Positive First Quarter Profit AT Yahoo!
Tech giant Yahoo! streamed a video broadcast of the company’s first quarter 2014 financial results, of which totaled $1.09 billion in revenue, which is about $20 million higher than analyst projections.  Marissa Mayer, who has now been at the helm of Yahoo! for almost two years, started the video by commenting on the company’s positive results, understandably stating, “I am really pleased by our first-quarter performance.” During the quarter, Yahoo! hired more than 300 engineers, and the number of regular mobile users has grown to 430 million, which is a thirty percent increase from the same period last year. Although these numbers are promising, Mayer admitted that Yahoo! still has far to go before making a complete  turnaround, remarking, “Our modest success this quarter is an important start.”

Joe Montana Bids Farewell to Candlestick With Flag Football Game
On July 12th, Joe Montana will bid farewell to San Francisco’s Candlestick Park by participating in the stadium’s final football game.  The Former San Francisco 49er quarterback and four-time Super Bowl winner will suit up for an all-star flag football game led by famed Miami Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino. The last time the two met was in 1985, when Montana led San Francisco to victory against Marino and the Miami Dolphins at Super Bowl XIX.  The two will face off against each other one month before the 49ers kick off the preseason at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara.

Marc Benioff Funds Social Network for Movie Fans
Salesforce CEO Mark Benioff is the latest investor in MovieLala, a social network that aims to connect movie fans. The site, which launches in early summer 2014, will offer exclusive content while providing opportunities for users to talk about cinema, help one another discover new movies and connect with celebrities. Says Benioff, “Movie studios are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to market movies without the analytics and data to know where to target that marketing and to know it’s working. MovieLaLa brings those studios the data they need to make informed decisions.” Benioff’s investment brings the startup’s seed funding to $750,000. Other investors include Machinima co-founder and CEO Allen DeBevoise, former HBO president of digital initiatives, Warner Bros.Online co-founder Jim Moloshok and founding Flixster investor Larry Braitman, among others.