Once again, Zynga loses more top staff - report

Newsbrief: Zynga's list of former executives seems to have grown a bit longer today, as Bloomberg reports that company vice presidents Bill Mooney and Brian Birtwistle have both stepped down from their positions. These two are just the latest in an ongoing string of executives to step down from the social game company in the last few months. Since its IPO in December, the company has lost employees including COO John Schappert, CityVille general manager Alan Patmore, Mafia Wars 2 general manager Erik Bethke, and chief creative officer Mike Verdu, who announced his resignation just yesterday. Zynga has yet to formally acknowledge these two recent departures, but told AllThingsD, "it’s not at all surprising that some would move on and or retire post-IPO." Since that initial public offering, Zynga has really struggled on Wall Street, and in its most recent quarter, its earnings fell well below analyst estimates. Earlier this month, Bloomberg reported that Zynga has been handing out stock options to keep its full-time employees from leaving.