After heading up the flock for nearly five years, Rovio CEO Mikael Hed is now a lame duck and a successor has been named to guide the Angry Birds creator back on course next winter.
Pekka Rentala, nominated by Rovio Chairman Kaj Hed, has been named as Mikael Hed's successor. Rentala and Mikael Hed will work together during the transitional months.
"It has been an amazing ride and in the coming months I will be very happy to pass the hoodie to Pekka Rantala, who will take Rovio to the next level," Mikael Hed said. "Pekka is known to be a great leader with experience building successful global consumer brands. I will continue to play an active role and will support Pekka in any way I can to ensure Rovio's continued success."
The transition will conclude on Jan. 1, 2015, but it won't be the end of Mikael Hed's time at Rovio. The outgoing CEO has been appointed as chairman of Rovio Animation Studios.
In 2013, Pekka Rantala was appointed CEO of Hartwall. The Helsinki-based beverage company produces beers, ciders, bottled water, soft drinks and juices.
Roughly two years earlier, Rantala served as managing director for Fazer Brand bakeries.
Before his stint in the food and beverage industries, Rantala worked for Nokia between 1994 and 2011. He rose to senior vice president of marketing for Nokia in 2008.
Once a must-have app on any new smartphone or tablet, Angry Birds, Rovio's flagship intellectual property, has been fading in popularity and profitability as of late. The company at large raked in profits that climbed from 35.4 million euros in 2011 to 55.5 million in 2012, before coming back down to earth with a 26.9 million take in 2013.
The company has lost some of the marketing power that fueled the rise of Angry Birds franchise, but Rovio has continued to push the growth of the franchise beyond iterations of the mobile game that brought the company success. Rovio has pumped out new Angry Birds games based on different game play mechanics, licensed official merchandise and has produced animated films.
Steve Bailey, a games industry analyst at IHS Inc., said Angry Birds had everything right when it was released. The pricing and production values were both on point, but now Rovio needs to take more chances, according to Bailey.
"The way forward for a company like Rovio is to become more experimental, try new approaches, really see what works and what doesn't," Bailey said. "Rovio was still profitable last year, it won't fall apart anytime soon."
The company was started in 2003 by cousins Niklas and Mikael Hed. Kaj Hed, Mikael's father, a finance software entrepreneur, invested in the firm a few years later.
