Bigpoint books Bookings.com CEO for board

Bigpoint has pulled in the former CEO of Booking.com, Kees Koolen, to serve on its board as a non-executive developer.

The German online game developer faced an executive shuffle and the closure of its mobile gaming business, and after another round of layoffs lost its long time CEO Heiko Hubertz who was replaced by the company’s former head of games Khaled Helioui in March of this year.

“I cannot think of a better person to join us than Kees, as he has already disrupted the hotel reservation space and his insights and experience in shaping and scaling teams will be extremely valuable in executing and rolling out our strategy," said Helioui.

Koolen went from being an angel investor in Booking.com to COO in 2001. In 2008 he became CEO and under his leadership the company became the world’s largest hotel booking website. He stepped down in 2011.

“I am thrilled to get involved with Bigpoint, a company that already has a leading position in the online gaming space and still has the opportunity to significantly increase its presence and its growth as a global leader,” said Koolen.

“Khaled is a talented CEO and I am looking forward to let Bigpoint benefit from my experience scaling booking.com into a global multibillion company.”