Eidos CEO leaves, shares rise

The head of games company Eidos Charles Cornwall has resigned, with immediate effect. He's to be replaced by current COO Michael McGarvey.

In much the same way as his county namesake has seen some turbulent weather recently, Cornwall has had the unfortunate task of frequently telling folk that his company's performance has been somewhat lacking in the last year.

Although things are now looking up with the success of new games based on existing formats - film Chicken Run and TV show Who wants to be a millionaire? - Cornwall hasn't made many friends and the City was happy to see him go, with shares rising one-and-a-half per cent on the news.

His departure (and that of Eidos finance top man Jeremy Lewis, last month) has also revived takeover speculation. If you remember, Eidos was in some quite serious talks with French games company Infogrames in the summer but pulled out saying the offers weren't high enough. Cornwall would have been behind this decision and it wasn't one that the stockmarket liked.

Eidos' share price fell over 70 per cent in the last year of Charles' tenure. He is now off to spend more time in the US and South Africa to spend "more time with his technology and mining interests". ®