Some Execs Walked Away From King Too Early
With King’s recent IPO announcement, news has been released relating to how much the makers behind Candy Crush will actually make off of it. However, not everyone that helped develop and invested in the hit game will be cashing in.
Reportedly one of the co-founders of King, Riccardo Zacconi, has the potential to make up to $745 million off of it if the shares sell at the reported price, $24. The eleven executives of Candy Crush have the potential to make $2.2 billion all together! Unfortunately, there was another founder and another early investor of King that left the company in 2011. According to Forbes.com:
“According to King.com’s registration documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission, cofounder and former co-CEO Toby Rowland as well as early investor and former board member Klaus Hommels each sold more than 40 million shares back to the company at a price under 8 cents a share in 2011”.
This means that Toby Rowland, cashed out a mere $3.1 million compared to what his 40.6 million shares would be worth now. If he had not cashed out early, his stake would have been worth $966 million according to PrivCo. Klaus Hommels who also left King, sold his 42.7 million shares for $3.3 in 2001. If Klaus held onto his stake and the IPO stays at the planned price, his stake would be worth around $1 billion!
However, both gentlemen are still very successful in what they are doing now. Toby Rowland started a web-¬based company called MangaHigh.com. This website is a resource and tool to teach kids math using games. The venture capitalist, Klaus Hommels is currently on the board of the music service Spotify. Klaus has invested in many numerous successful internet companies such as Skype, Facebook, and Spotify.
Unfortunately for these two men, they walked away from King a little too early. However, both of them are doing just fine!
Featured Image Via: sfgate.com<
