Tech CEOs on the hot seat

It turns out that fake cows aren't such a great investment.

Shares of Zynga (ZNGA) plummeted by 76% this year, riding a wave of bad news. After buying game maker OMGPOP for $183 million earlier this year, Zynga wrote off half the deal's value in October, citing the rapid popularity decline of flagship game "Draw Something." The company cut 5% of its staff two months ago and slashed its 2012 outlook because of underperforming games.

In November, Zynga announced a management shakeup that included the ouster of its chief financial officer.

And last week, Facebook and Zynga tore up their lucrative contract. Though that gives the company flexibility to pursue other outlets for its online games, analysts fear that it leaves Zynga more vulnerable to competition.

That collection of woes would land any CEO on the hot seat. But getting rid of Pincus would be difficult for Zynga: He owns a special class of Zynga shares with 70 times the voting power of ordinary shares. That gives him control of around 58% of Zynga's total voting power, according to the company's latest quarterly report.

In other words, the only person who could fire Pincus is Pincus himself.

Zynga did not respond to a request for comment.

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