Foundation 9 gets a new CEO

Foundation 9, the motley assortment of independent developers brought together by private equity money, has lost its CEO.

Jon Goldman, who has headed the Irvine-based company since The Collective and Backbone Entertainment merged almost three years ago, is "ankling," as we say in Variety parlance. That means he's not quitting in the most believable way, but he wasn't officially fired either. Somewhere in between.

Here's his official statement, which is about as bland as bland statements come when senior executives ankle:

After 14 years building this business, I am delighted to pass the reins to James. It’s been two years since Francisco Partners invested in Foundation 9 to fuel our tremendous success; I’ve accomplished what we agreed to do and now it’s time for me to actually enjoy some of the fruits of that success. As a shareholder, I eagerly look forward to what lies ahead for Foundation 9.

It's not a radical shift, though. James North-Hearn, who was head of Foundation 9 in Europe, is now moving to Irvine to take over as CEO. Goldman gets to stay as non-executive chairman for 6 months.

Since its founding, Foundation 9 has grown to include talent management firm Circle of Confusion and developer Shiny Entertainment. It also received, as Goldman alluded to, $150 million from private equity firm Francisco Partners in 2006.

It has since worked on a slew of different titles, including "The Golden Compass" and "Silent Hill V," along with lots of XBLA ports through its Digital Eclipse  brand. It also lost, under very cloudy circumstances, the assignment to make "Dirty Harry" for Warner Bros.