Hamlet is covering breaking news – um- rumours that Mark Kingdon is departing Linden Lab and Philip Rosedale is about to swing back into the limelight as the “new” CEO.
According to Hamlet, the rumours have come from “multiple sources”, although he declines to indicate whether said sources are within or linked-to Linden Lab itself. Hamlet links the rumours to his earlier speculation about the reasons behind Tom Hale’s departure and, by extension, the “failure” of Viewer 2, and Rosedale’s own somewhat contrite SL7B address.
The mill has been further fuelled by news on the official blogrum that Mark Kingdon was a no-show at the SL7B celebrations yesterday, where he was due to give and address. The reasons for his no-show were stated to be related to an emergency.
It’s hard to tell which way to turn on this. While I doubt that the emergency that kept Kingdon had anything to do with any forthcoming departure on the grounds that Rosedale himself and several other leading LL luminaries were on-hand at the stage where Kingdon was due to speak: had the no show been connected to a sudden departure or a decision to remove Kingdon, I would have thought that the “emergency” would have been sufficient to call them away as well or that someone would have been prepared to step into the breach and thus prevent speculation and upset.
However, Hamlet does have the background that allows him to sometimes tap into the beat of things within the bastions of Battery Street (albeit an ability that is in the decline following the recent layoffs), so outright dismissal of the “rumours” cannot at this time be given.
One thing is clear. If this is no more than speculation, then Linden Lab need to nip it in the bud. While some may cling to the adage “there’s no such thing as bad publicity” this kind of rumour could be damaging if not dealt with properly.
Watch this space, as the saying goes.
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