Pachter: Zynga pulling Schappert off games is "idiotic"

Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter doesn't think it was a smart move on Zynga's part to pull COO John Schappert off games, as it's not his fault stock in the firm has plummeted.

Speaking with Bloomberg, via Business Insider, Pachter said putting chief mobile rfficer David Ko and EVP Steve Chiang in charge of games, while pulling "a game guy" out of the mix was a bit "idiotic."

"Pulling a game guy out of the primary responsibility for managing the game effort, and putting a non-game guy, which is Pincus, in charge, I think that's idiotic," he said.

"The newer games are doing really quite well and it's really that the growth of the new stuff isn't offsetting the decline in the old stuff. So I'm not sure how that's Schappert's responsibility or fault, and I think this is probably ultimately going to be a strategic error that bites them in the butt."

Zynga's stock price currently sets at $2.84, falling from it's initial offering of $15.91 in December 2011 when it went live on NASDAQ.