Angry Birds CEO plans Rovio exit

The CEO of Rovio Entertainment, the Finnish company behind the Angry Birds franchise, is stepping down to be replaced by the former boss of marketing at mobile giant Nokia.

Pekka Rantala will join Rovio on January 1 next year to take over from Mikael Hed, who has held the top job at the Helsinki-based company for the past five years.

In that time, Angry Birds has become one of the biggest licensing properties in existence, covering games, books, animation and apparel.

Rantala, who spent more than 14 years at Nokia, arrives at Rovio after a short stint at Finnish beverage company Hartwall, where he has been the CEO since October last year.

Hed, however, says he will “continue to play an active role” at Rovio, having been appointed as chairman of Rovio Animation Studios, where he will oversee animation and movies.

Rovio is currently building a slate of animation series based on its Angry Birds app, which launched in 2009 and went on to become the most downloaded game of all time.

An Angry Birds Toons series has already been produced, while shows based on the Bad Piggies and Stella characters are also in development, alongside a feature film, which is scheduled for a 2016 release.

The Helsinki-based firm says its online distribution outlet, ToonsTV, has attracted over two billion views since it launched in March last year.

Current content available on ToonsTV includes two of Rovio’s original series as well as third-party content from the likes of Hasbro Studios, The Jim Henson Company and Stan Lee.