Skillz Taps Gaming Finance Titan to Guide Strategic Turnaround

LAS VEGAS, NV – March 10, 2026 – Mobile games platform Skillz (NYSE: SKLZ) announced today it has brought on Jeff Shouger, a veteran financial executive with a formidable track record at gaming giants Niantic and Zynga, to serve as an advisor to its Board of Directors. The move is a significant signal to investors that the company is prioritizing financial discipline and strategic growth as it navigates a challenging market.

In his advisory capacity, Shouger will work closely with the Skillz leadership team and Board, lending his expertise on capital markets strategy, operational scaling, and long-term value creation. The appointment comes at a critical juncture for Skillz, which is working to reverse a period of financial decline and prove the long-term viability of its unique competition-based platform.

A Strategic Move Amid Financial Headwinds

The decision to bring in a high-caliber financial advisor like Shouger is deeply rooted in Skillz's recent performance. The company's stock has been under considerable pressure, trading near its 52-week low of $3.10 and seeing its market capitalization decline by over 53% in the last year. While the company reported a sequential increase in revenue to $27 million in its third quarter of 2025, it has faced a broader trend of declining sales, which have fallen at an average annual rate of 37.1% over the past three years.

Furthermore, Skillz has struggled with profitability, with analysts projecting continued negative earnings per share for the current fiscal year. The company has seen a concerning drop in its paying monthly active users (PMAU), which fell to 110,000 in the fourth quarter of 2024 from 268,000 a year prior. Although Skillz has made strides in expense management—cutting R&D and marketing costs—and increased its average revenue per paying user, the core challenge remains turning its platform into a consistently profitable enterprise. Shouger's appointment appears to be a direct and strategic effort to address these very issues, bringing a fresh perspective focused on rigorous financial stewardship.

The 'Pokémon GO' and Zynga Playbook

Jeff Shouger is not just any financial executive; he is a seasoned veteran who has been in the financial trenches during some of the mobile gaming industry's most defining moments. As the Chief Financial Officer of Niantic, the augmented reality company behind the global phenomenon Pokémon GO, he led capital raises totaling nearly $1 billion and was a key figure during the company's eventual $3.5 billion acquisition by Scopely. His experience navigating massive growth and major corporate transactions is unparalleled.

Prior to his tenure at Niantic, Shouger served as Vice President of Finance and Chief Accounting Officer at Zynga. There, he was instrumental in guiding the social gaming pioneer through its $1 billion IPO and supported more than 25 strategic M&A deals, helping scale the finance organization during a period of explosive growth. His resume also includes senior finance roles where he led significant capital raises and sales, such as a $50 million raise at data.ai and the $851 million sale of Proteolix to Onyx.

“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, in a statement. “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.”

The Power and Purpose of an Advisor

By appointing Shouger as an advisor rather than a full board member, Skillz gains access to his expertise with greater flexibility. An advisor provides strategic counsel without holding the formal voting rights or fiduciary responsibilities of a director. This structure allows Shouger to focus purely on providing high-level guidance on the financial and strategic challenges facing the company, from capital formation to operational efficiency.

This arrangement is common for companies seeking specialized, high-impact advice without altering the composition of their board. For Skillz, it represents a nimble way to inject top-tier financial acumen into its strategic planning, enhancing its credibility with investors and signaling a serious commitment to building a sustainable financial future. It allows the company to benefit from Shouger's extensive network and insights into market trends, M&A opportunities, and risk management.

Fortifying Ranks in a Competitive Arena

Shouger's arrival comes as Skillz jockeys for position in the fiercely competitive mobile gaming market, an industry valued at over $140 billion. While the sector is projected to rebound and grow, it is crowded with major players like Unity and AppLovin. To stand out, Skillz has been focused on its unique value proposition: a patented platform that enables developers to integrate real-money competitive tournaments into their games.

The company has been making aggressive moves to bolster its ecosystem, recently winning a $43 million patent infringement verdict against competitor AviaGames and launching a $75 million accelerator program to fund and support mobile game developers. With the debut of its new Skillz Pro SDK at the upcoming Game Developers Conference, the company is clearly focused on arming developers with better tools.

Shouger himself acknowledged the company's unique position. “Skillz has built a differentiated ecosystem that brings together competition, technology, monetization, and ad tech in a way few companies can,” he stated. His role will be to help translate that differentiated technology into differentiated financial results. By bringing in a financial heavyweight with deep roots in gaming, Skillz is betting that rigorous financial strategy is the key to unlocking the full value of its competitive platform and securing its place as a leader in the next era of mobile gaming.