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Andrew Wilson (businessman)
Australian businessman (born 1974) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Andrew Wilson (born 7 September 1974)[citation needed] is an Australian businessman who has been the CEO of Electronic Arts (EA) since September 2013. He has also been chairman of the company since 2021.
Wilson is a member of The Business Council.[3]
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Early life and education
Wilson grew up in a working-class family in Victoria and Queensland, Australia.[2] In his youth he played rugby and basketball at school, coached Taekwondo, and played golf, surfed, swam, and ran.[2]
He attended Queensland University of Technology, but dropped out before obtaining his law degree.[2]
Career
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Early career
In the dot-com boom of the late 1990s, Wilson, living in Sydney, built Australian websites for international corporations.[2] He subsequently also helped raise venture capital and launch IPOs for dot-com start-ups.[2]
Electronic Arts
In May 2000, Wilson joined Electronic Arts' small video-game development studio on Australia's Gold Coast, which created V8 supercar, rugby, cricket, and surfing video games but needed someone with real experience in how the sports were actually played.[2] That studio closed in 2002 due to lack of scale.[2] Wilson then worked in the company's Asian and European markets for several years before moving to EA Sports and then becoming an executive producer on the FIFA franchise.[4] In August 2011 he was appointed executive vice president of EA Sports, and he also took on duties as executive vice president of the company's Origin platform in April 2013.[5][6]
Six months after the resignation of John Riccitiello, Wilson was chosen to be the new CEO of the company on September 17, 2013.[7] In his first year as CEO, Wilson initiated a "player-first" corporate strategy, and offered more free-to-play games and in-app purchase options.[8] In a move towards a transformation from physical software to digital, he also greatly increased EA's digital offerings, and launched EA Access, a subscription-based digital service for Xbox One players that allows unlimited play across a selection of EA titles.[8][9] Electronic Arts had a large revenue increase and its stock price doubled in 2014.[8][10]
In 2021, Wilson became chairman of the board of EA, following the retirement of Larry Probst.[11]
In 2023, he restructured the company into two organizations – EA Sports and EA Entertainment (formerly EA Games).[12][13]
For EA's fiscal year (FY) 2025, Wilson received $30.5 million in total compensation, an increase of $5 million over FY2024 and $10 million greater than in FY2023, and representing a ratio of 260 times more than the compensation of the median employee at EA for FY2025.[14]
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Personal life
Wilson is married, and has one daughter and one son.[15] He holds a black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.[16][17]
Wilson and his family live in Atherton, California.[18] In 2022, along with several other Silicon Valley executives, he opposed a proposal to allow more than one home on a single acre in Atherton, which is one of Silicon Valley’s most exclusive and wealthiest towns.[18]
Awards and accolades
- 2010 — Winner, BAFTA, Games/Sports — FIFA 2010[19]
- 2010 — Winner, BAFTA, Games/Use of Online — FIFA 2010[20]
- 2014 — #5 on BBC.com's list of best CEOs of 2014[8]
- 2014 — #6 on Forbes' list of America's Most Powerful CEOs 40 and Under[21]
- Winner — Motley Fool's The Best Tech CEOs of 2014[9]
- 2015 — #3 on Fortune magazine's Business Person of the Year list[10]
- 2015 — #3 on Forbes' list of America's Most Powerful CEOs 40 and Under[22]
- 2015 — #58 on Adweek's Power List: The 100 Most Influential Leaders in Marketing and Tech[23]
- 2017 — Variety 500[24]
- 2019 — Forbes Innovative Leaders[25]
- 2022 — Variety 500[24]
- 2023 — Variety 500[24]
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References
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