Why Can't Glu Mobile Find A CEO?

I just finished reading Stuart Dredge's timely interview, for Mobile Entertainment, with Glu Mobile's freshly appointed interim CEO & President (and current co-chair of the board) Bill Miller... and I must say that I continue to be dumbfounded, and seriously concerned by that company's inability to recruit a new leader. As you'll recall, their venerable CEO Greg Ballard announced his resignation back in July and now he's actually left the building. Miller claims to Dredge that Glu's "search process kicked off in midsummer - not traditionally a fertile period for headhunting." He's gotta be kidding, right? I can't imagine that there's been any period in recent history where there have been more available, eligible candidates on the market! There have been rumors floating around for awhile that the board is specifically looking for someone with the skillset to package the company up for sale... but, there's gotta be swarms of those characters orbiting near San Mateo. Is it simply that they're not offering a reasonable compensation package? Needless to say, Glu's investors should be asking lots of questions about how this search is being conducted and why they "weren't able to close" with the few principal candidates they've identified to date.

Unfortunately the dysfunction of this process has already wounded the company tangibly by contributing to the resignation of Jill Braff, the company's respected head of publishing, and more subtlety (but no less significantly) in terms of industry and investor confidence.... and the hurt is likely to linger in light of Miller's admission to Dredge that the company is just now beginning its 2010 planning process. And, of course, all this chaos will continue to inure to the benefit of Glu's competitors, particularly EA Mobile and Gameloft (but also, nimble smartphone-focused upstarts), that will continue to steal its market share and usurp its market opportunities. Glu Mobile needs strong, visionary and permanent leadership now!