#SL Economy: +65% -> US$ 567 million | New Chief Financial Officer

Here are the highlights for the Second Life Economy as a whole in 2009:

Financial

•      User-to-User transactions in 2009 totaled US$567 million in 2009, growth of 65% over 2008.
•      The total amount of virtual currency in circulation reached L$6.95 billion, growth of 23% over December 2008
•      The US Dollar value of L$ in circulation totaled US$26.5 million in December 2009
•      Sales of User Generated virtual items on Xstreet SL, reached L$1.6 billion or US$6.1 million, growth of 74% over 2008   
•      The total US dollar value of all Linden dollars traded on the LindeX™ currency exchange in 2009 reached US$115 million in value,  7% growth over 2008
  
•       The total US dollar value of all Linden dollars traded on the Xstreet SL™ currency exchange in 2009 reached US$1.5 million in value, 169% growth over 2008
  

Usage

•      Residents spent 481 million hours in Second Life in 2009, 21% growth over 2008 
•      User hours lost to downtime as a portion of total user hours were down 66%, to a best-ever low of 0.19% for the whole year 
•      Monthly Repeat Logins reached an all-time high of 769,000 in December 2009, 15% growth over December 2008
   

Land

•     Resident-owned regions reached 23,900 in December 2009, up 6% over December 2008
  
•    Total Resident-owned land (including Mainland) reached 1.85 billion square meters in December 2009, up 7% over December 2008 

While the overall Second Life economy grew in 2009, it's clear that some Resident businesses had strong sales, while other Resident businesses struggled.  In 2009, success in Second Life, as in the real world, was not evenly distributed. As in the real world, economic survival is far from guaranteed. However, in 2009, many Residents had significant gross earnings. (...)
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Linden Lab Appoints Komin Chief Financial Officer

Bob Komin Joins Management Team to Steward the Company’s Financial Future

SAN FRANCISCO — January 19, 2010 — Linden Lab®, creator of the virtual world Second Life®, has appointed Bob Komin as Chief Financial Officer. In this role, Komin will be responsible for all financial matters and controls, human resources, legal and administrative functions globally, reporting to Linden Lab Chief Executive Officer Mark Kingdon.

In addition to managing the financial and administrative functions, Komin will have the opportunity to help Linden Lab realize the full potential of the Second Life economy, the largest user-generated virtual goods economy in the world. The Second Life economy had a banner year in 2009, totaling $567 million in user-to-user transactions, a 65 percent increase over 2008. Additionally, the sale of user-generated goods within the Second Life marketplace XstreetSL™ grew 74 percent over 2008.

"Bob has demonstrated his superb ability to manage companies at all stages of development through significant transitions and periods of growth," said Kingdon. "We are confident that Bob has the strategic know-how and experience to strengthen and guide the long-term financial goals of the company."

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