The man who brought the Seattle tech community raining dollar bills, “Gangnam Style” dances and Chewbacca impressions is saying goodbye to the Emerald City and hello to sunny California.
DoubleDown Interactive president Glenn Walcott is stepping down after helping lead the Seattle casino games company for the past three years.
Walcott told GeekWire that he and his family are moving to Southern California this summer, where he expects to be involved in “some awesome technology venture” in the coming months.
Walcott’s departure comes just one month after DoubleDown co-founders Greg Enell and Cooper DuBois left the company.
“We built a great company in DoubleDown,” Walcott said. “It has a successful business model, an incredible positive company culture and a really fun game product.”
DoubleDown was acquired by International Game Technology for $500 million a little more than two years ago. The acquisition agreement included $85 million in retention payments for two years, starting on Jan. 12, 2012.
Walcott said he “loved every minute of this experience” and reiterated that his departure is “all on great terms.”
“We have great leadership and a skilled team at DoubleDown and at IGT, and Greg and I are excited and confident to see this business continue to grow as we depart,” he said.
DoubleDown has seen impressive growth under the leadership of Walcott and Enell. Before IGT’s acquisition in 2012, DoubleDown Casino had grown to 1.4 million daily active users in less than two years as the company mushroomed to 80 employees. That growth came about without DoubleDown taking any substantial outside investment.
After IGT’s $500 million purchase, DoubleDown continued its success, most recently posting a 57 percent year-over-year revenue growth and 26 percent hike in monthly active users during the first quarter ending Dec. 31, 2013.
Walcott, along with his colleagues, also helped build a unique culture at DoubleDown, one that included company-wide trips to Mexico and free Ben & Jerry’s giveaways.
That culture was evident Wednesday evening at F.X. McRory’s bar in Seattle, as about hundred DoubleDown employees gathered for Walcott’s going away party. And of course, there was another ridiculous stunt that involved Walcott — only this time, a bunch of pirates showed up.
Back in July, DoubleDown joined other local tech companies like Microsoft and Amazon to help save the annual 4th of July fireworks show in Seattle.
So, to thank Walcott for his efforts last summer, Seafair brought along a couple arr-ing pirates into F.X. McRory’s who ended up knighting “Sir Glenn Walcott” as the “Duke of DoubleDown,” and “Defender of Seattle Fireworks.”
“Being knighted by Seafair is one of the greatest honors of my career,” Walcott said. “Seafair represents everything I hold valuable, including creation of joy for their beloved city.”
Melissa Jurcan, director of sales for Seafair, thanked Walcott for his service to the community and noted that he “embodies a Seafair royal” with his energy and passion.
It looks like Walcott isn’t wasting any time using his new power as Duke of DoubleDown. “As first official proclamation as Duke of DoubleDown, I mandate that all companies in Seattle must provide free pop and rice crispy bars to all great employees,” he said.
Editor’s note: DoubleDown Interactive is a GeekWire annual sponsor.
