Gaming studio and aggregator Yggdrasil has appointed Björn Krantz as its new chief executive, effective immediately.
Krantz has been promoted from his latest position as chief of global market operations after originally joining the company as head of the publishing division in January 2020.
Prior to those roles, Krantz spent more than a decade working with NetEnt, including over two years as the COO.
Krantz takes over the top job from his friend and colleague – company founder Fredrik Elmqvist – who today hands over responsibilities as CEO for a seat on the board.
“Björn is well known to the industry as his delivery track record is amazing and he has been a successful executive leader in rapid global growth environments for a very long time,” Elmqvist said.
“In the past two years, Björn has been heavily involved in shaping and building Yggdrasil’s global market operations, as well as being a key contributor to the company’s growth strategy and execution planning.
“The time is now ripe to execute on this transition and it’s a great day for the board, myself, and the entire company to see Björn take over the helm. I am confident that he will do great in propelling the business forward and take it to the next level.
“I will have the pleasure to continue working with Björn through a more active board assignment, and will also provide my advisory knowledge in the best possible way to support the continued success of the company and its strategy,” he added.
Yggdrasil CEO Björn Krantz: “I have enormous respect for the history, the company legacy and its awesome culture.”
Krantz joined Yggdrasil at a pivotal time as the company diversified outside of slots development and into aggregation, publishing and white-label contract agreements.
This allowed Yggdrasil customers in global markets to licence any, or all elements, of the firm’s proprietary gaming ecosystem, including its content portfolio, gamification and affiliate tools or game development kit.
Commenting on the promotion, Krantz added: “It’s with great humbleness I am taking over as CEO after Fredrik. I have enormous respect for the history, the company legacy and its awesome culture.
“It’s all about the people and building strong and winning teams, and it’s a great pleasure for me to have such talented and motivated people around me every single day.
“We have a clear strategy, and together with the rest of the management team I look forward to delivering on our global growth ambitions, and to further strengthen our position as the leading iGaming publisher and premium global iGaming solutions provider.
“It will be a pleasure for me to continue working with Fredrik as a close ally and use him as a strategic soundboard as we enter the next phase of the company strategy implementation.”
