Larry Probst, current chairman of Electronic Arts, served for
three years as the company's CEO and is its largest individual
shareholder. In that three years, Electronic Arts stock was
flat while the S&P 500 rose 30% and Activision rose 170%.
He stepped down as CEO in 2007 but holds the position of
chairman.
Today, Larry Probst is also chairman of the U.S. Olympic
Committee, involved in a high profile embarassment as Chicago was
defeated in a bid to be the 2016 Olympic host in the first round of
voting.
Probst's tenure as president of the U.S. Olympic Committee has
probably been a little distracting:
“It’s complicated — more complicated than I
would have imagined," he said in a recent
interview before today's decision.
Perhaps things will be a little easier now with this behind
him. The income from being a chairman in these two
organizations certainly won't hurt.