{"id":11963,"date":"2023-11-10T01:46:29","date_gmt":"2023-11-10T01:46:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/investment\/opinion-unity-software-has-a-fleeting-moment-to-win-back-developers-and-investors\/"},"modified":"2023-11-10T01:46:30","modified_gmt":"2023-11-10T01:46:30","slug":"opinion-unity-software-has-a-fleeting-moment-to-win-back-developers-and-investors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=11963","title":{"rendered":"Opinion: Unity Software has a fleeting moment to win back developers \u2014 and investors"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Jim Whitehurst, the recently named interim chief executive of Unity Software, has a brief window of time to restore trust between the troubled gaming development company, its investors and developers.<\/p>\n

And he knows it. <\/p>\n

\n

In a brief Zoom call with analysts after Unity\u2019s
\n U,
\n -3.15%<\/bg-quote>
\n disappointing third-quarter results Wednesday \u2014 in which the company offered no guidance for the fourth quarter \u2014 Whitehurst and Chief Financial Officer Luis Visoso said they are \u201cexamining the company from top to bottom.\u201d The call was Whitehurst\u2019s first since Unity\u2019s pricing fiasco in September, which angered its developer customers and led to the departure of its controversial CEO, John Riccitellio.<\/p>\n

Whitehurst and Visoso plan to restructure the company, cutting jobs, products and office locations. Unity stock fell almost 12% in after-hours trading Thursday, and its share price has been roughly cut in half since hitting a 52-week high in July.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, this is a \u2018rip off the Band-Aid\u2019 reset, and then we\u2019re going,\u201d said Whitehurst, who is also the former CEO of Linux developer Red Hat, owned by IBM Corp.
\n IBM,
\n +0.17%<\/bg-quote>.<\/span>\n <\/p>\n

He said Unity was not giving an outlook for the fourth quarter because the executives did not want to be constrained from making tough decisions by a previous guidance. \u201cI want to emphasize we\u2019ve got to move fast, and we\u2019ve got to be decisive,\u201d Whitehurst said. He added that he hopes to be sandbagging by saying they will be done by the end of the first quarter: \u201cI\u2019m hoping we can do it a lot faster than that.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the problem facing Unity at this pivotal moment is that the needs of investors and its developer customers are not necessarily aligned. Wall Street wants revenue growth and profits, while game developers want cutting-edge software to help them build and advertise their games at the lowest price. <\/p>\n

Even though Unity did an about-face on some of its fee hikes, the damage was done, and some developers are still furious with the company. Whitehurst described a conversation with an unnamed developer, who initially started out saying he wanted nothing more to do with Unity. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt started off very, very negative \u2014 but as soon as we started getting into some of the features we\u2019re driving, all of a sudden they went from, \u2018We don\u2019t want to\u00a0deal\u00a0with you\u2019 to, \u2018Oh, can we be an early beta customer?’\u201d<\/p>\n

That example, though, could be an anomaly. Game developers are a notoriously prickly bunch who can hold a grudge, and they made their discontent with Unity\u2019s pricing fiasco known through social media, Reddit forums and a Change.org petition. <\/p>\n

In contrast, Unity rival Applovin\u00a0
\n APP,
\n -1.10%<\/bg-quote>,<\/span>
\n an app monetization company, reported stronger-than-expected results on Wednesday, and was praised by Oppenheimer analysts for outperforming its peers. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s worth pointing out that Whitehurst, who is in an interim position and would not comment on whether he will stay on permanently because he said he wanted to respect the board\u2019s process, is also described in his bio as being a special advisor to Silver Lake, a well-known Silicon Valley private-equity firm. It\u2019s entirely feasible that Whitehurst is charged with cleaning up the company ahead of a future attempted sale or merger.<\/p>\n

Whatever Whitehurst\u2019s mission is, it\u2019s going to be a tough task.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Read the full article here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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