PeopleFun Appoints Carol Miu as Chief Executive Officer

Rhea-AI Summary

PeopleFun has appointed Carol Miu as Chief Executive Officer, succeeding co-founder Tony Goodman, who led the company since 2011. Miu, who previously held several key roles at PeopleFun, including Chief Product and Analytics Officer, has played a pivotal role in the company's success, growing annual revenue from $100 million in 2018 to over $300 million in 2021. With over 30 million monthly active users, she aims to foster innovation and enhance employee development as the company seeks to expand its hit games portfolio.

Positive

• Miu's leadership contributed to revenue growth from $100 million in 2018 to over $300 million in 2021.
• Appointment of Miu may bring fresh perspectives and foster innovation in game development.

Negative

• Concerns about continuity may arise with the leadership change as Goodman steps down after more than a decade.

DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- PeopleFun, one of the world’s top developers of popular casual mobile games including Wordscapes and Word Stacks, announced it has appointed Carol Miu as Chief Executive Officer, marking a momentous and pivotal milestone for the company.

Carol Miu is Chief Executive Officer at PeopleFun (Photo: PeopleFun).

Miu will succeed Tony Goodman as CEO. As one of PeopleFun’s co-founders alongside Angelo Laudon and John Boog-Scott, Goodman has led the company since 2011 to its remarkable success today with more than 30 million monthly active users (MAU) across PeopleFun’s games in 248 geographies. In 2018, PeopleFun was acquired by AppLovin (Nasdaq: APP) and became a leading studio to the company.

“I couldn’t be more excited to see Carol appointed as Chief Executive Officer of PeopleFun,” said Goodman. “She brings an extensive knowledge of product, data, and analytics to the role, and also offers a critical understanding of the importance of mentorship alongside an individual’s personal and career growth. I am confident she will continue to build upon PeopleFun’s success and lead the company to exciting new heights.”

Miu was the first employee on the product team at PeopleFun when she joined the studio in 2018 as Senior Director of Product Management, quickly advancing to Vice President of Product and Analytics and, subsequently, Chief Product and Analytics Officer before becoming CEO. Under her leadership, Miu built and grew a team of product managers, data analysts, and user researchers, while tripling annual revenue from $100 million in 2018 to over $300 million in 2021. Through taking the lead in developing product roadmaps and features, and training the now product owners of every one of PeopleFun’s live game titles, Miu has been instrumental to the success of PeopleFun’s hit games like Wordscapes, which has over 230 million players to date.

“I’m looking forward to leading PeopleFun as CEO in our next stage of growth,” said Miu. “My vision for the company is twofold: first, to develop more hit games through excellence at data-driven product innovation, striking the right balance between finding the fun and confirming through rapid iteration and testing that there is broad market appetite for our game ideas, and second, to become best-in-class as a workplace that invests in the professional development of employees, providing unique opportunities to learn and innovate.”

“Anyone who has worked with Carol would recognize why she was selected and fully entrusted as PeopleFun’s new Chief Executive Officer,“ said Boog-Scott. “I know that as CEO, she will encourage and challenge her teams to push the boundaries of creativity, while also continuing to prioritize people’s growth as she’s done so extraordinarily over the past four years.”

Prior to PeopleFun, Miu was Chief Data Scientist at Yvolver, a Dallas tech startup developing turnkey VIP and missions systems for mobile game developers, which was acquired by AdColony in 2015. From late 2015 onward, Miu has led diverse, distributed teams in free-to-play mobile gaming first at Boss Fight Entertainment on the hit mobile roleplaying game (RPG) Dungeon Boss, then at Scopely as Lead Product Manager on The Walking Dead: Road to Survival. Miu graduated Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2001 and started her career as an economics litigation consultant in antitrust, intellectual property, and consumer law. In 2007, she earned her Master of Science in Business Management from the University of Maryland, College Park.

For more information on PeopleFun or to join the team, visit: www.peoplefun.com.

About PeopleFun

PeopleFun is a top mobile games studio based in Dallas, Texas known for creating popular word games such as Wordscapes and Word Stacks, which have both skyrocketed to the top of the charts in #1 and #2 in the Word Games category. Founded in 2011, PeopleFun combines their creativity and passion for games to create a unique culture that has made the Word Game category into one of the most popular genres on mobile. PeopleFun was acquired by AppLovin in 2018. For more information, visit peoplefun.com.

About AppLovin

AppLovin’s leading marketing software provides developers with a powerful, integrated set of solutions to grow their businesses. AppLovin enables developers to market, monetize, analyze and publish their apps. The company’s first party content includes more than 350+ popular, engaging apps and its technology brings that content to millions of users around the world. AppLovin is headquartered in Palo Alto, California with several offices globally.

Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Forward-looking statements generally relate to future events or our future financial or operating performance. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements because they contain words such as “will,” “expect,” “plan,” “going to,” “intend,” “target,” “believe,” “potential,” or “continue,” or the negative of these words or other similar terms or expressions that concern our expectations, strategy, priorities, plans, or intentions. Forward-looking statements in this press release include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the expectations for PeopleFun, its products and the mobile gaming industry. Our expectations and beliefs regarding these matters may not materialize, and actual results in future periods are subject to risks and uncertainties, including changes in our plans or assumptions, that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. These risks include fluctuations in our results of operations, our studios’ ability to expand their app portfolios, and changes in the overall economy. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are also subject to other risks and uncertainties, including those more fully described in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021. The forward-looking statements in this press release are based on information available to us as of the date hereof, and we disclaim any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, except as required by law.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220427005343/en/

Emelyne Interior

press@applovin.com

Source: AppLovin

FAQ

Who is the new CEO of PeopleFun and what is their background?

The new CEO of PeopleFun is Carol Miu, who joined the company in 2018 and previously held various leadership roles, including Chief Product and Analytics Officer.

What significant achievements did Carol Miu accomplish at PeopleFun?

Under Carol Miu's leadership, PeopleFun's annual revenue increased from $100 million in 2018 to over $300 million in 2021.

What is the expected impact of Carol Miu's appointment as CEO on PeopleFun?

Carol Miu aims to drive innovation in game development and enhance employee professional growth, which may lead to continued success for PeopleFun.

What are the key products of PeopleFun under its new leadership?

PeopleFun is known for popular mobile games like Wordscapes and Word Stacks, which boast a large user base.

How long did Tony Goodman serve as CEO of PeopleFun?

Tony Goodman served as CEO of PeopleFun since its founding in 2011 until his recent departure in 2022.