executives

Sony Network Entertainment boss Tim Schaaff is retiring.

Sony announced the news today, saying that he will be leaving the company on December 31. Starting January 1, Sony Computer Entertainment President and CEO Andrew House will take over Sony's Network Entertainment operation. According to Sony, Schaaff will stay on as a member of Sony Network Entertainment's board of directors.

Sony's Network Entertainment division has become an increasingly important aspect of the company's gaming value. The service allows users to access music and download videos. It's also home to Sony's video game store.

Schaaff joined … Read more

It's interesting to see how Microsoft evaluates and pays its top executives. The latest proxy statement for Microsoft's fiscal 2012, which came out today in advance of the annual shareholder meeting on November 28, shines a good light on this.

The statement includes detailed information on how its top "named executive officers" were graded and compensated, per Microsoft's review process.

Here's this year's comparative compensation chart from the proxy:

CEO Steve Ballmer received an "incentive plan award" of $620,000 for fiscal 2012, which was 91 percent of his eligible target … Read more

Adding to a growing number of Zynga executives who have left the social gaming company this year, Zynga Poker General Manager Laurence "Lo" Toney has moved on from the struggling company, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Zynga Poker is the company's first social game and the largest free-to-play online poker game, according to Zynga's site. CNET has contacted a Zynga spokesperson for comment and will update when we hear back.

Toney's departure, first noticed by All Things D, comes as the company faces slowed growth and slumping stock. Its stock closed at $2.43 a … Read more

Yesterday, Zynga announced a big write-off and told Wall Street its growth was slowing. Today, Wall Street returned the favor by crushing Zynga shares, forcing them down 12 percent to $2.48.

Analysts say Zynga could still recover. It remains a leader in the casual-gaming industry, with more than 300 million monthly users, and as of July 30, it held a decent financial cushion in the form of $436 million in cash and equivalents on hand -- a good chunk of the $1 billion it raised in its IPO late last year.

It's starting to look like Zynga's … Read more

Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman sent a letter to President Obama today urging him to use his executive power and publish "advisory" guidelines on a cybersecurity order.

"Countless national security leaders from your Administration and the previous Administration have made clear that the threat from cyber attack is similar to the threat we faced from terrorism on September 10, 2001 -- the danger is real and imminent, yet we have not acted to defend against it," Lieberman wrote. "We know our adversaries are already stealing valuable intellectual property and exploiting our critical infrastructure … Read more

The list continues to grow -- another Zynga executive announced today that he is joining the group of those who recently jumped ship.

According to VentureBeat, Wilson Kriegel, who worked in business development, marketing, and advertising for the game maker, is leaving the company. Kriegel was fairly new to Zynga, having only started there when it acquired Omgpop in March for around $180 million.

At Omgpop, Kriegel was the chief revenue officer. On his LinkedIn profile he says was in charge of making the uber-popular game Draw Something into a "more fun, social and a global juggernaut."

Kriegel … Read more

Two Democratic senators are urging President Obama to direct his administration to publish "advisory" guidelines through an executive order on cybersecurity.

In a letter (PDF) sent to the White House today, Delaware's Christopher Coons and Connecticut's Richard Blumenthal say it's time for an executive order "directing the promulgation of voluntary standards" by the Department of Homeland Security.

It's hardly clear that the vast Homeland Security bureaucracy -- which has received plenty of failing cybersecurity grades from congressional overseers -- is best-equipped to advise the private sector on how to secure networks and … Read more

Zynga's chief marketing executive and CTO of infrastructure resigned today, joining a parade of executives fleeing the troubled game maker.

The resignation of CMO Jeff Karp was announced today in a regulatory filing (PDF) with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. CTO of Infrastructure Allan Leinwand revealed on his LinkedIn page that he had assumed the position of CTO for platform development at cloud services company ServiceNow

Karp's resignation comes a month after the departure of Chief Operating Officer John Schappert, who resigned in early August after being replaced as head of the games division in a … Read more

Apple's newly-minted top executives will have good reason to stick around in the form of a hefty stock bonus that finishes vesting in four years.

New filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission show that Craig Federighi, Apple's senior vice president of Mac Software Engineering, and Dan Riccio, Apple's senior vice president of Hardware Engineering, were both given 75,000 shares of company stock as part of their promotions last week.

Those grants, currently worth $50.62 million, vest at three separate points over the next four years. The first batch of 25,000 vests … Read more