Zynga Shoots For IPO
Evidently close doesn’t only counts in horseshoes; rumor has it that Zynga is close to going public. Yes the creator of “Farmville”, “Frontierville” and other “villes” is making a play for all the coins as early as next week according to a mention on the All Things Digital blog. Other pundits believe that June will be the earliest that public filings can be accomplished. Zynga principals have been sited meeting with reps from Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs to discuss which bankers would best help prepare regulatory filings, rumors unconfirmed but flying like bullets on Mafia Wars.
On the coattails of the LinkedIn IPO, this Facebook partner makes coin selling virtual items such as cows, corn, bullets, buildings and other goods, in amounts ranging from $1 to $3, totals adding up as more and more social media inductees become owners of farms, frontier homes, cities and play poker.
Topping off at an approximate 248m monthly active users, Zynga is considered second only to Activision Blizzard Inc. as the most valuable US game company. Zynga is currently valued at $8.2b on SharesPost Inc., the exchange for privately-held companies. The valuation of Zynga puts it above Electronic Arts a public video game publisher with an $8 billion dollar valuation, the gain is attributed to the smart move of bringing former EA Chief Operating Officer John Schappert on in a senior executive role.
When LinkedIn hauled in a large amount on its own IPO, stock market analysts were concerned that it might be the beginnings of a internet or social media bubble like the dot-com boom with over valuations, however the stock market is preparing for the eventual IPO of other heavyweights such as Facebook and Groupon, with Pandora and HomeAway already making their intentions known to go public. To date a lot of technical/social media companies have hesitated to IPO, one reason for the hesitation is a plethora of investors with readily available funding without having to leap into the IPO waters. The general buzz is Facebook will be a factor in determining if a bubble will arise from the froth started by LinkedIn, currently seven technical companies have IPOs under their gun belts while during the same period in 2000 there were 86.
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