Under-fire OnLive founder Steve Perlman leaves company

Under-fire OnLive founder Steve Perlman leaves company
Perlman departs OnLive after controversial sale

The founder and CEO of the struggling OnLive video game streaming platform has quit the company.

The surprise announcement comes less than two-weeks after Steve Perlman laid-off all of the company's employees (half were soon rehired) and sold out to an investment company.

OnLive, which owed $30-40m to creditors, took a complex financial restructuring as an alternative to bankruptcy, with investors like HTC and British Telecom losing out big time in the process.

Perlman had been expected to stay on despite huge criticism from employees and the tech press.

Still poised for greatness?

The technician who helped to develop the QuickTime video platform and WebTV said he was leaving to work on other projects.

"OnLive is by far the longest project I've ever worked on," Perlman wrote. "For me, it's hard to leave my creation behind, but there is also a huge sense of relief that I can finally step off the treadmill and know that OnLive is in good hands," he wrote in a statement on OnLiveFans.com.

The cloud-based platform, which was under serious threat of shutdown before the restructuring, will now be led by lead investor Gary Lauder, who takes over as chairman and former head of online operations Charlie Jablonski, who's now COO and acting CEO.

In a statement, Lauder wrote: "I spent my first week with OnLive listening, to gather people's thoughts and suggestions. It's an impressive group, and I am even more convinced that this company is poised for greatness."

Via: LA Times, CNET

Chris Smith

A technology journalist, writer and videographer of many magazines and websites including T3, Gadget Magazine and TechRadar.com. He specializes in applications for smartphones, tablets and handheld devices, with bylines also at The Guardian, WIRED, Trusted Reviews and Wareable. Chris is also the podcast host for The Liverpool Way. As well as tech and football, Chris is a pop-punk fan and enjoys the art of wrasslin'.