Atari Gets New CEO

Atari Inc., the American company owned partly by Infogrames, has been thrust in the spotlight by recent events. After it has recently failed to reach some of the conditions related to its NASDAQ listing, it has been threatened with delisting from the stock exchange. It seems that part of the company's response is to bring in a new Chief Executive Officer to deal with the situation.

The previous CEO Curtis G. Solsvig III has resigned after having been the company's chief restructuring officer since October 2007, when the board of Atari Inc. underwent a major change in personnel. Apparently, his efforts to turn the company around were not the most successful, as seen in the recent events regarding the company.

His replacement will be Jim Wilson, who has 15 years of management and executive position experience with companies including the likes of Vivendi Universal Games, Universal Interactive Studios and Sony Wonder/Sony BMG. With such a rich background it's easy to see that Wilson will try and take Atari out of the hole in which it currently lies and turn it into a respected game company.

The new CEO and president was installed in a day when the company also secured a new credit line worth some 14 million dollars, with BlueBay High Yield Investments as the primary lender. Atari will use this line to finance operations related to the upcoming launch of the re-imagined Alone in the Dark, a game on which the troubled company pins a lot of its turnaround expectations.

Jim Wilson stated that: "Atari, Inc., with its world-renowned brand and strong library of game franchises, has a tremendous opportunity in North America. I look forward to working with the Atari team and shareholders to lead Atari, Inc. into its next phase of growth."

Alone in the Dark will be released on the PC, Xbox 360, Wii, PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 2 on European markets in May 2008, while the US launch is set for June.