Zynga’s CEO Don Mattrick earned $58m this year

Zynga CEO Don Mattrick earned $57.8 million in his first year in charge of the company.

The pay package was confirmed by a spokesperson during an annual shareholders meeting, as reported by CNBC.

The lump sum is despite the fact that Zynga’s shares have dropped by more than 21 per cent during the past six months.

Former Xbox chief Mattrick was named Zynga’s new CEO in July last year, replacing founder Mark Pincus at the helm.

The company had been struggling since its IPO, troubled by a series key exec departures and the loss of almost half of its daily active userbase from April 2013 to April 2014.

Failure to adapt to the mobile market and follow up its early successes of Mafia Wars and FarmVille meant Zynga was forced to close a number of studios and lay off hundreds of staff as it went about restructuring its business.

Since taking charge, Mattrick has completely overhauled the management team, and has overseen the release of FarmVille: Country Escape on mobiles, with a number of other titles now in development.