Jeremy Lewis said he was stepping down as Big Fish Games’ president and CEO because the company had reached a new stage and founder Paul Thelen was better suited to lead it. The change was announced April 27, 2012; Lewis said he would remain on the board and planned to spend more time with his family.
What Lewis said about leaving
In a memo to employees reproduced by GeekWire on April 27, 2012, Lewis described the handoff as “a natural point in our company’s progression” and said Thelen was “best suited to lead us forward.” He said he would continue supporting Big Fish as a member of its board of directors.
In a follow-up email to GeekWire, Lewis characterized the change as a joint company decision and said he wanted to spend more time with his family. He did not rule out another opportunity, but GeekWire’s account does not establish what he did afterward.
Who took over, and what happened to Lewis’s role?
Big Fish founder Paul Thelen returned to the roles of CEO and president, replacing Lewis. GeekWire reported that Lewis had been with the company for six years and would remain on its board. The announcement therefore described a change in executive leadership, not Lewis’s immediate departure from every company role.
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How Lewis framed Big Fish’s growth
Lewis’s memo set the transition against a company history and a changing business stage. The milestones below are figures and characterizations Lewis made in that 2012 employee memo, not independently audited numbers or measures of Big Fish’s present-day business.
- He said Thelen founded Big Fish in 2002 as a one-person game development studio, and that Mahjong Towers helped put the company on the map.
- Lewis said he joined in 2006 after serving as a Goldman Sachs managing director, initially as president and chief operating officer, and became CEO in 2008.
- He said an $83 million financing closed in 2008.
- He said Big Fish passed one billion consumer downloads on PC and Mac in 2010.
- He described Big Fish as a top-10 iPad publisher in 2011.
What the memo said Big Fish planned next
Lewis also outlined initiatives planned for 2012. These were plans described at the time, not confirmation that each launch occurred:
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- Launch a Universal Cloud Gaming Service.
- Expand the PC, Mac, and mobile marketplaces to include free-to-play games.
- Extend into Facebook with Ace Casino.
What the announcement does—and does not—establish
The contemporaneous account supports a clear explanation of the leadership change: Lewis described it as a joint decision prompted by the company reaching a different stage, with Thelen returning to lead and Lewis staying on the board. It does not provide a detailed account of private deliberations, or document Lewis’s later career.
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