Bigpoint Adds International Management for Next Phase of Growth

HAMBURG, Germany, July 19, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

• Bigpoint has strengthened its management with the appointment of an international team at C-level to support founder and CEO Heiko Hubertz in leading the next phase of growth
• Key new hires are Christian Unger (interim COO), former CEO of Ringier and Tradus, Khaled Helioui (Chief Games Officer), an experienced internet and online gaming investor
• Claire Davenport (Chief Commercial Officer) and Tim Weickert (Chief Technical Officer) are also part of the new management team
• Reorganisation to focus on core competencies of market-leading browser games development and international distribution with 4 senior regional managers, and a number of new office locations planned

Bigpoint (http://www.bigpoint.com), Europe's number 1 online-games developer and publisher, is adding depth to its senior management team with a series of new appointments. The goal of these changes is to increase focus on Bigpoint's core capabilities: game development and international game distribution. Local offices in Paris, London, Rome, San Francisco and Sao Paulo will be strengthened, distribution offices in new locations will soon be opened, and more resources will be allocated to key games. Selected third party developers will be able to publish their games to the full Bigpoint network. In the mobile space, Bigpoint is adopting a new strategy in which it will increasingly work with external studios rather than in-house developers, and will look to expand the successful distribution network model to mobile.

"In the past few years, Bigpoint has developed incredibly quickly from a small start-up to a large, internationally successful business with partners and customers around the world. We had outgrown our original structure. This new structure and team represent an important step in order to position us for the next five years and to further expand our international market leadership. We want to have the best browser games in our portfolio, whether developed internally or by third parties, and we want to continue to be the number 1 browser games publisher in every market where we are present", says founder and CEO Heiko Hubertz.

Christian Unger adds more senior experience to the team  

Christian Unger will be supporting Bigpoint with the implementation of the new structure and with the next steps of international growth. From 2009 until April 2012, Christian was CEO of Ringier AG, the biggest media group in Switzerland. Prior to this, he led Tradus plc., an e-commerce company with online-auction platforms and e-commerce portals in twelve countries. During his time at Tradus, the stock price tripled. The 44-year-old father-of-three started his career with Bertelsmann where he held several positions, most recently as CEO of Bertelsmann China. Christian Unger will be reporting directly to Heiko Hubertz, founder and CEO, and will be supporting Bigpoint on an interim basis.  

The second new addition to the management team is French-Tunisian Khaled Helioui who joins as Chief Games Officer and will run the whole product department - from new game development to game life cycle management of blockbusters such as Battlestar Galactica Online, Farmerama and Drakensang Online. Khaled joins from TA Associates, a global growth equity firm, where he covered the Technology space from 2009 until May 2012 and was notably involved in their investment in Bigpoint. He was previously at UBS AG advising Technology companies across Europe on their capital raising and M&A considerations.

Claire Davenport, an experienced British executive who has previously held senior positions at RTL Group and Skype, and who has been with Bigpoint for over a year, will continue to run the distribution arm of the business as Chief Commercial Officer, now including the USA. Meanwhile, Tim Weickert, former IT Director of Bigpoint, has been promoted to Chief Technical Officer where he will focus on building up the flexibility and stability of the technical infrastructure to have the best gaming platform as the company's operations and international user base continue to expand.

"I am pleased to support the company, in such a dynamic market environment, with its transformation and to contribute my experiences in the area of change management and international growth", says Christian Unger, COO Bigpoint.

As part of the transformation, Nils Holger Henning (former Chief Communication Officer), as well as Tobias and Philip Reisberger (Managing Directors at Bigpoint Luxemburg) are leaving the company to pursue their own businesses.

About Bigpoint:

Bigpoint (http://www.bigpoint.com) is Europe's leading online-game developer, publisher and content provider for more than 1,000 global distribution partners. Bigpoint's free-to-play games are played by over 280 million registered users in over 30 languages. The company's diversified portfolio includes high quality games for browser, mobile and social platforms. More than 800 employees from over 35 different nations work at the company headquarters in Hamburg, Germany or at other locations in Berlin, San Francisco, London, Paris, São Paulo and Malta. Bigpoint's many distinctions in the industry include the European Business Award 2011, the Mashable Best Online Game Award for "Farmerama", the "Fastest Growing Larger Company" and "Uniqueness of Offering" prizes at the 2010 Media Momentum Awards, as well as the MTV Skyscraper Award for extraordinary achievement in game development. For more information or press material, please visit the press area at http://www.bigpoint.net.

Further information:
http://www.bigpoint.com
http://www.bigpoint.net

Press Contact
Sandra Braun
Vice President
Drehbahn 47-48
20354 Hamburg
T: +49(0)40-881413 - 191
E:  s.braun@bigpoint.net

Janine Griffel
Griffel & Co Kommunikation GmbH
Forsmannstr. 8 b
22303 Hamburg
T: +49(0)40-6094586-00
E: jg@griffel-co.com