Founder Steve Perlman Is Leaving OnLive, Investor Gary Lauder Takes Over As Chairman

Cloud gaming company OnLive has announced that the company’s founder and CEO Steve Perlman is “departing to work on his myriad of other projects.” Lead investor Gary Lauder is taking over as the company’s new chairman, while Charlie Jablonski, the VP of operations, has become Onlive’s COO and acting CEO.

The news follows a fairly convoluted piece of corporate maneuvering, presumably brought on by financial pressure, that saw the company sell its assets to a new entity that will also do business under the name OnLive. The new OnLive said “almost half of OnLive’s staff were offered employment at their current salaries,” with the rest offered consulting positions in the new company in exchange for stock options. (None of the previous options transferred over.)

One of the big controversies when the move was first reported was whether Perlman made money from the deal while “screwing employees”. So when OnLive actually announced the deal, it insisted that Perlman was not receiving any compensation, including stock in the new company. (Other executives reportedly took “educed compensation to allow the company to hire as many employees as possible within the current budget.”

Just last week, OnLive issued a statement that “Steve continues as CEO and is currently concentrating on the transition; once this is complete, he’ll be very focused on our next product releases and the vision,” and also claiming that the deal, by putting OnLive on “firm financial footing,” would take the company to “a higher level.” Looks like someone changed their mind.

The service was first announced in 2009 and launched in 2010. Here’s the full press release:

OnLive, the pioneer of instant-action cloud computing, announced today that Gary Lauder, the lead investor in OnLive and the Managing Director of Lauder Partners LLC, will become the new Chairman. The company also announced that Charlie Jablonski, the former head of OnLive operations, will become OnLive’s COO and acting CEO. Steve Perlman, OnLive’s founder and
former President and CEO, is departing to work on his myriad of other projects. “Steve has created an extraordinary company that no one else could have created. He is a unique entrepreneur and deserves his legendary status in Silicon Valley as a creator of groundbreaking companies,” said Chairman Gary Lauder.

The new OnLive is emerging with greater financial security and a brighter outlook on the future. OnLive is now positioned to execute against longer-term projects with our breakthrough technology, products and services,” said Lauder, also adding, “I spent my first week with OnLive listening, to gather people’s thoughts and suggestions. It’s an impressive group, and I am even more convinced that this company is poised for greatness.”

The company plans to continue building the OnLive management team in key categories as the company delivers on its mission of breaking new ground in cloud services both for games and remote application delivery to thin devices, legacy platforms or any platforms with a fast connection. The new OnLive is looking to hire great people for the business development team, as well as a senior marketing leader.

About OnLive
OnLive is the pioneer of on-demand, instant-action cloud computing and instant-play video game services, delivering real-time interactive experiences and rich media through the Internet. With groundbreaking video compression technology, OnLive harnesses cloud computing to provide the power and intelligence needed to instantly deliver full-featured, media-rich applications and the latest, premium game titles to tablets, smartphones, PCs, Macs and HDTVs via the OnLive® Game System or connected TVs. OnLive is available in North America, the UK and Belgium and will continue expanding into Europe and Asia. OnLive’s technology is backed by hundreds of patents and patents pending worldwide. The company is headquartered in Palo Alto, California. More information is available at www.onlive.com, www.onlive.co.uk and www.onlive.be.