Office Manager

Jeff Shouger to become advisor to Skillz Board of Directors. LAS VEGAS-(BUSINESS WIRE)-Skillz (NYSE: SKLZ), the leading mobile games platform bringing fair and fun competition to players worldwide, today announced that Jeff Shouger, former Chief Financial Officer of Niantic, Inc. throughout its $3.5 billion acquisition by Scopely, has agreed to serve as an advisor to the Skillz Board of Directors (the "Board"). In his role, Shouger will work closely with the Board and leadership team, providing guidance on capital markets strategy, financial discipline, operational scale, and long-term value creation. As CFO of Niantic, the world's leading augmented reality company and creator of Pokémon GO, Ingress, and Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, Shouger led multiple successful capital raises totaling nearly $1 billion. Prior to Niantic, Mr. Shouger served as Vice President of Finance and Chief Accounting Officer at Zynga, where he helped lead the company through its successful $1 billion IPO, scaled the finance organization during a period of rapid growth, and supported more than 25 strategic M&A transactions. "Jeff is a proven financial leader with a rare combination of public-company rigor, capital markets expertise, and deep experience in interactive entertainment," said Andrew Paradise, Chief Executive Officer of Skillz. "As we continue to sharpen our financial discipline and scale our business for long-term growth, Jeff's experience helping companies navigate critical moments of expansion and capital formation will be a meaningful asset to both our leadership team and the Board." With more than two decades of financial leadership experience across high-growth technology and interactive entertainment companies, Shouger has guided organizations through critical moments of scale, capital formation, and transformation. Earlier in his career, he held senior finance roles at data.ai (formerly App Annie), where he led a $50 million capital raise, and Proteolix, where he was part of the internal team that completed the company's $851 million sale to Onyx. "Skillz has built a differentiated ecosystem that brings together competition, technology, monetization, and ad tech in a way few companies can," said Shouger. "I look forward to supporting the leadership team as an advisor as they continue to strengthen their businesses with a focus on disciplined, long-term value creation." About Skillz Inc. Skillz (NYSE: SKLZ) is a leading mobile games platform dedicated to bringing out the best in everyone through competition. The Skillz platform helps developers create multi-million-dollar franchises by enabling social competition in their games. Leveraging its patented technology, Skillz hosts billions of tournaments for millions of mobile players worldwide, with the goal of building the home of competition for all. Skillz has been recognized by Fast Company's Best Workplaces for Innovators, CNBC's Disruptor 50, Forbes' Next Billion-Dollar Startups, Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies, and the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing companies in America. For more information, visit www.skillz.com.

Cash in your pocket: how finance brands can score big with mobile gamers. When I tell people that mobile gamers are a dream audience for financial brands, I sometimes get raised eyebrows. There's still this stereotyped image of a gamer as a teenager holed up in a basement in front of a console. But that picture is decades old. Today's mobile gamers are, well, everyone. The people making household decisions, paying bills, planning for college savings and even trading stocks on their phones in between rounds of Words With Friends. These outdated notions of what a "gamer" is are cutting off brands, particularly those in the finance industry, from highly engaged, ready-to-spend consumers. To help reframe the outlook, Zynga partnered with Comscore to dig into the data on its players. Not only are Zynga gamers household decision-makers, tech-savvy financial planners and eager adopters of new tools, but they're also more receptive to in-game advertising than ever before. More than 60 percent of Zynga gamers told Zynga they're the primary manager of their household bills and finances, while more than half (56 percent) said they are the primary decision makers for financial and insurance choices. Meanwhile, a full third (35 percent) stated they are parents making those choices for their entire family. These are leaders in their households and they're carrying its games with them everywhere, from their commute, waiting for school pickup in the parking lot and even cramming in sessions during those small breaks between meetings. What really stood out, however, is how quickly its audience embraces new financial technology. Around two-thirds (67 percent) of respondents said they're comfortable managing all of their financial activities entirely through apps while nearly one-in-four consider themselves early adopters of fintech. Meanwhile, one-in-five are already buying and selling investments on their phones. On the same device they're playing Match Factory or Toon Blast, Zynga gamers are also experimenting with the latest financial tools and shaping the way their households handle money. That combination of decision-making authority and a natural comfort with technology makes mobile gamers, and Zynga players specifically, an incredibly valuable audience for finance brands. And the good news is they're not just open to hearing from brands in-game, they're also actively engaging once their play sessions are over. Its data shows Zynga gamers are more than twice as likely as non-gamers to click on a finance-related ad. Over a third have already done so while playing and unlike a passive scroll through social media, their attention is fully in the game which makes them more likely to act on what they see. And act they do. Compared to non-gamers, Zynga players are more likely to download a finance app, sign up for new services and explore products after clicking. They're also heading into the next few months with big financial plans, from applying for credit cards to opening savings accounts to renewing insurance policies. In other words, these aren't people just thinking about money in the abstract, they're ready to make tangible financial moves right now. If you're not considering mobile gaming as part of the media mix for your finance brand, you're leaving an engaged, tech-forward and financially active audience on the table. Its audience invites Zynga into their pockets and into their lives everyday. For the finance industry, that's an invitation worth accepting. * Gabrielle Heyman, Vice President, Global Sales, Zynga

Gadsme teams up with Zynga to bring immersive in-game ads to select titles. | Date | Type | Companies Involved | Size | | Oct 23, 2025 | partnership | Gadsme Zynga | Not disclosed | * Gadsme's platform now features ads across more than 1,600 mobile titles from major publishers. * The company expanded to the US with a new New York office and fresh brand partnerships. * Gadsme aims to make in-game advertising more integrated and valuable for both publishers and advertisers. In-game advertising platform Gadsme has partnered with Zynga to integrate non-intrusive and immersive ads into select titles. The move is also part of Gadsme's continued global expansion, with its platform featuring ads in more than 1,600 mobile games from publishers such as Konami, Ubisoft, Gameloft, Miniclip, and Azur Games. As part of those expansion plans, last year the company opened its first US office in New York to help establish new partnerships in the region. "From day one, we built Gadsme to set a new standard for how brands engage with players," said Gadsme co-founder and chief revenue officer Simon Spaull. "Working with Zynga validates that vision - and for me personally, it's special to collaborate with them again after so many years in the industry. We're committed to scaling this model across all engines and platforms, making premium in-game ads a win-win for players, publishers, and brands." Zynga senior director of ad partnerships and operations Dmitriy Makiyevskiy commented: "We build long-term partnerships based on product quality as well as the value they deliver. "Gadsme meets both these criteria with its stable and seamless technology. This integration is a valuable and sustainable addition to our monetisation strategy."