The news follows the announcement earlier this month that the firm is to lay off approximately 30 per cent of its workforce as part of major strategic restructuring efforts.
Kingdon assumed the CEO role in May 2008 after Linden Lab founder and chairman Philip Rosedale said he wanted to make way for someone with more operational and management expertise. Rosedale will now replace former PricewaterhouseCoopers partner Kingdon on an interim basis, while CFO Bob Komin has assumed the additional role of COO.
"On behalf of the board, I thank Mark for all of his contributions during his tenure with Linden Lab which include growing our user base and revenue, increasing the stability of the platform, and nurturing and helping build a world class team," said Rosedale, who will continue to serve on Linden Lab's board of directors.
Last September Linden Lab said that Second Life “residents” had spent more than one billion hours in the 3D virtual world since its launch in 2003, generating more than $1 billion through the sale of virtual goods and services.