Full announcement after the break for your reading and commenting pleasure. Linden spokesman Peter Gray -- who is still with the company, contrary to SLers wondering otherwise -- tells me a blog post about Altberg is coming soon to the Second Life portal, as is an interview opportunity with, well, me.

Also notable: The press release puts as much emphasis on Linden Lab's new ( and successful ) iOS app, Blocksworld, as Second Life. To wit:

After a couple weeks of silence following the sudden departure of Rod Humble as its CEO, Linden Lab just issued this press announcement that a guy called Ebbe Altberg is his replacement. Formely the COO of a communications software company called BranchOut (for just a year and a half), most of Altberg's recent experience is at Yahoo!, where he was SVP of Media Engineering and before that, VP Head of Audience. Unless I missed it, neither the announcement nor his LinkedIn mentions anything about 3D graphics, virtual reality, gaming, or related fields. Take that as you will. His experience at Yahoo! was definitely about creating and servicing mass market consumer experiences, so he has that going for him.

Ebbe Altberg Joins Linden Lab as CEO

2014-02-05

SAN FRANCISCO — February 5, 2014 — Linden Lab®, the makers of Second Life®, BlocksworldTM, DesuraTM, and more, today announced that Ebbe Altberg will lead the company as its new Chief Executive Officer.

Most recently prior to joining Linden Lab, Altberg was COO of BranchOut. Prior to that, he was part of the executive team at Yahoo!, most recently as SVP of Media Products. His more than 25 years of experience managing teams that create world-class products and services also includes leadership roles at Ingenio (acquired by at&t Interactive) and Microsoft.

“We remain committed to world-changing innovation from Linden Lab,” said Jed Smith of the company’s Board of Directors. “We’re keenly focused on providing incredible experiences for all of our customers, and Ebbe is the perfect person to help lead our team as we continue to serve and grow our global audience of active users."

“Linden Lab has long been at the forefront of building experiences that entertain people while empowering them to express themselves and profit from their creations,” said Altberg. “Our customers' creativity is unparalleled, and I’m proud to join the talented team that serves them. Second Life is now in its eleventh year, and every day, users continue to create more and more amazing experiences to enjoy. Though much younger, Blocksworld has already seen hundreds of thousands of unique user-created worlds shared for everyone to play with. I'm absolutely committed to supporting our customers and helping them become even more successful. There are significant opportunities ahead, and I look forward to leading us into the next phase of growth.”

About Linden Lab

Founded in 1999 and headquartered in San Francisco, Linden Lab makes shared creative spaces that inspire and empower users to explore and share their creativity with others.

For more about Linden Lab, its products, and career opportunities please visit LindenLab.com.

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