Long-serving NetEnt exec Krantz departs after 10 years

NetEnt chief operating officer Björn Krantz has left the slot specialist after more than ten years, iGamingBusiness.com has learned.

Krantz, who joined the company in August 2009, has served in a number of different roles within the business, including stints as managing director of its Malta business.

He also spearheaded its US expansion efforts as managing director of NetEnt Americas, before being named chief operating officer in 2018.

During his decade with the supplier, which recently made its first acquisition with a £220m deal for Red Tiger Gaming, he worked under three chief executives, starting with Johan Öhman, followed by Per Eriksson then Therese Hillman.

In an internal email seen by iGB Krantz said that he enjoyed ten “amazing, wonderful and exciting” years with the business. He would now be taking some time off, he added.

NetEnt chief executive Therese Hillman said that Krantz had chosen to move on, and paid tribute to this work with the business.

“Over the years, Björn has played a very important role for our market expansion globally and has had several different roles within NetEnt,” she said.

“I sincerely thank Björn for his contributions over the years and wish him all the best in his future endeavors. I’m sure that we will be seeing each other again somewhere in the global world of iGaming.”

Following his departure NetEnt has announced plans to restructure its commercial, marketing and sales teams into a single unit.

The merging of its teams was described in an internal email as a move to enable the business to “work faster, remove tension and combine budgets to achieve double digit growth”.

“We will shock and excite the industry, setting ourselves up so we compete against our competitors, rather than ourselves,” the email explained.