Annapurna Interactive, the video game company owned by award-winning Megan Ellison, daughter of billionaire Larry Ellison, co-founder of Oracle ORCL, is in turmoil after its entire staff resigned
What Happened: The entire 25-member staff of Annapurna Interactive, including top executives Deborah Mars and Nathan Vella, resigned en masse, reported Business Insider.
This move followed failed talks between Ellison, former Annapurna president Nathan Gary, and other executives about the possibility of the studio becoming an independent entity.
Ellison established Annapurna Studios in 2011, later adding the gaming division, Annapurna Interactive, in 2016.
Despite producing several popular games, including “Outer Wilds,” “What Remains of Edith Finch,” and the award-winning “Stray,” the company has been plagued by internal tensions.
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Former president Gary described the collective decision to leave as “the hardest decision we have ever had to make, and we did not take this action lightly.”
Annapurna has since appointed Hector Sanchez, former head of content at Fortnite maker Epic Games, to lead its interactive divisions, the report noted.
Ellison told Bloomberg that the company’s top priority is “continuing to support our developer and publishing partners during this transition,” and remains committed to expanding its presence in the interactive space.
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Why It Matters: This mass resignation comes after Larry’s Oracle gained momentum in the tech industry last week, particularly in the cloud and AI sectors.
Despite trailing behind tech giants like Amazon.com Inc., Microsoft Corporation, and Alphabet Inc., Oracle’s growth in the cloud space has been robust, contributing to Larry’s wealth rise to $173 billion.
At the time of writing, Larry’s net worth was $174 billion, making him the fifth individual on the list of the world’s wealthiest men, following Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, and Bernard Arnault.
Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash
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