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Former Starbreeze CFO Sebastian Ahlskog convicted of insider tradingCall him the breeze
Call him the breeze
Update:GamesIndustry.bizreport that Ahlskog was acquited on appeal in June 2021.
Former Starbreeze Studios chief financial officer Sebastian Ahlskog was convicted of insider trading this Tuesday. This follows from the Swedish Economic Crime Authorityraiding the company’s headquartersand at least one private home in December 2018, under suspicion of using insider information to profit from Starbreeze’s financial troubles.
According toDagens Industri, Ahlskog exploited insider knowledge of the developer/publisher’s coming insolvency to sell his shares in November 2018, one month after stepping down from his role, and shortly before Starbreeze applied for reconstruction.
Starbreeze itself was not under suspicion, according to the publisher’s investor relations chief Ann Charlotte Svenssonat at that time: “The company as such is not the subject of any suspicion. The company cooperates with the ECA. The event does not affect the company of the ongoing business reconstruction”, reportedExpressen.The investigation has also cleared former CEO Bo Andersson Klint of related charges. Ahlskog has been fined SEK 40,000 (£3171 or $4126). His legal team have two weeks if they’re to appeal the decision.
GamesIndustry.bizreport that the Swedish Economic Crime Authority told them they had seized SEK 700,000 (roughly £55,300 or $72,100) from Ahlskog, supposedly the proceeds from trading.
Nonetheless, they’ve struggled financially over the last few years. The failure ofOverkill: The Walking Deadproved particularly costly,as we reportedin May. The outlook then was really quite bleak, but they’ve since concluded their 12 month period of reconstruction (a process of recovering a drowning business, comparable to administration in the UK) on a much more stable and optimistic footing.
Starbreeze published their end of year financial report justthis week, and it’s encouraging given the circumstances. Payday 2 sold well enough to meet the criteria for Steam to adjust their traditional 70/30 revenue split to 75/25 in Starbreeze’s favour last month. They accentuate that success, strengthening the business for the long term, and ongoing discussions aboutPayday 3. They’re also seeking a publisher for a possible revival of the unsuccessful mobile spin off Payday: Crime War, which shut down its servers in December. Let’s wish them well, yeah?
