Zynga

The company says that most of the IPO proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes, rather than cashing out existing shareholders.

What could have caused such a precipitouschange in fortunes in just a matter of months?

Bing Gordon, a director at Zynga, called it a logical combination, saying "it's all about entertainment. "

By the time of that change, Zynga had a large audience of players to whom it could promote future games in ways still permitted by Facebook.

An existing investor, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, is also likely to participate with a small investment, one of these people said.

At the heart of the whole process is Zynga's ability to analyze reams of data on how players are reacting to its games.

That will be very good for Zynga and Facebook, but it may not be so good for the stock market at large.

In one example from the suit, Zynga game player Rebecca Swift signed up for a "risk-free trial" of a green tea herbal supplement.

Two, Zynga's complicated relationship with Facebook means the company has less control of its own destiny.

Zynga reports it has nearly $1 billion in the bank as of March 31, which is a couple hundred million more than it had at year-end 2010.

This year, it bought Aardvark, to which users can post questions that are answered by individuals, and invested in the gaming company Zynga.

With a check of Zynga's applicant-tracking system, she can see that those people submitted the same letter for several other openings, too.

Zynga, the world's largest social gaming company, hopes to raise $2 million for Save the Children's Japan Earthquake Tsunami Emergency Fund.

Zynga's diminished valuation follows a bumpy stock market and growing scrutiny of the company in recent months.

Investors must be careful with the next crop of tech IPOs, particularly online game company Zynga.

Investors and others have said they question whether companies like Zynga and Groupon can go public in such a choppy environment.

In a world where bigger, faster, and flashier are vital buzzwords, Zynga has proven that there is still a place for simple pleasures.

In the BusinessWeek article the company stated that they are paying "under 10%" for each transaction, so let's use 10% to be conservative.

It would be very considerate of Zynga to list at that price and leave money on the table, but it's not going to happen.

Zynga has been the target of lawsuits by rivals alleging the company copied their games, and Zynga has initiated similar lawsuits itself.

Zynga said it determined the company had a "material weakness in internal control over financial reporting" as of March 31, 2011.

We'll dissect late-night infomercials and Zynga's games to understand what makes them so compelling.

Additionally, if Apple also controls advertising across apps, Zynga will lose another of its competitive advantages in cross promotion.

Taking a look at the line graph below, Groupon and Zynga's charted growth is steeper than San Francisco's famous Filbert Street.

On Friday, Zynga filed paperwork with regulators for a $1 billion IPO, although the final amount could be considerably different.

If the peddlers can scrape up some real money, Zynga might be worth all those billions.

Recent stock-market turbulence has created uncertainty about IPOs and could force Zynga to delay and lower the valuation of its offering.

Zynga will release an early version of a game called Zynga City on Tencents' open platform, Zynga said in a statement on Monday.

Zynga, which is said to be contemplating a public offering, clearly does not want to have all its eggs in the Facebook basket.

That would be considered a prime deal, and it is widely expected to launch before the end of the year.

Zynga, the largest applications developer on Facebook, with 42m users of its games, is reported to be nearing annual sales of $100m.

But how many of you are likely to become the next Zynga (and without hitting a few bumps in the road first).

A Zynga spokesman declined to say when the game would be available.

Whether Zynga's virtual creations will continue to be hits with fickle American consumers isn't clear.

Even so, some analysts and investors question Zynga's ability to keep producing hit games in an ever more crowded field.

Zynga is one of the fall's most highly-anticipated IPOs, with plans to raise $1 billion.

Its partnership with Zynga, maker of the popular game FarmVille, illustrates how Facebook can leverage its platform.

And investors are likely to pay more than chicken feed for shares in Zynga, the firm that makes FarmVille and other online games.

Zynga was founded in 2007 by Mr. Pincus, occupying a former potato-chip factory he owned in an industrial neighborhood in San Francisco.

Zynga has raised millions of dollars in recent years through similar campaigns, most notably for the relief efforts in Haiti.

When Mr. Pincus first envisioned Zynga, most investors and peers doubted that a gaming start-up could become the next big thing.

Zynga has one big advantage: Because its creatures exist only on a computer, it's much easier for Zynga to keep coming up with new ones.

Update: To clarify, Poker and the rest of Zynga's games on the Facebook platform will eventually use FB credits, too.

As you can see, Zynga accounts for 31% of all active applications on Facebook, more than 2 times Facebook's own apps.

Both Groupon Inc. and Zynga Inc. , the social game maker, have filed for public offerings that could occur in September or October.

And users often feel assaulted by too much or irrelevant social information, like Zynga game updates.

So it has both a development and marketing cost advantage over EA and other traditional gaming companies.

When Zynga, the social games maker, purchased the Chinese social gaming company XPD Media in 2010, it had 35 employees.

Initial reports valued the company at $10 billion.

"Most, if not all, of the online advertisements presented through Zynga are scams, " the lawsuit alleges.

Many say Zynga's focus on data analytics lacks the artistry of good game-making.

All of Zynga's games go through what amounts to a giant ongoing lab experiment involving players.

Based on these assumptions, I estimate that Zynga is earning at least $15 million per month, or 30% net margin.

Facebook takes 30% of the revenue that app developers like Zynga make on its platform, so Google said it would take only 5% for now.

With a touch of pride, he adds that a Silicon Valley firm turned down an investment in Zynga, telling him he was "not coachable. "

Facebook started restricting the messages, and Zynga's traffic dropped sharply.

Zynga City, as the new build-your-own-town game will be called, will be played through the Chinese Internet portal Tencent.

Walt Disney Co. and Electronic Arts both acquired Zynga rivals for hundreds of millions of dollars each.

Still, Zynga considers data to be its secret weapon.

"The best virtual goods have real currency, " says Mark Pincus, Zynga's boss.

Zynga allegedly authorized an ad agency to plant fake $25, 000 bills on the sidewalks of the city on its behalf.

Social networking games like Farmville, the Zynga games, the virtual worlds.

Users may tire of virtual vegetables and online Mafia Wars (another popular Zynga game).

This allowed Zynga to get in front of millions of potential players without having to pay for customer acquisition.

At present American companies like Zynga and Electronic Arts dominate.

Zynga's dependence on Facebook for nearly all of its revenue is also a potential liability.

Zynga is projecting at least $1. 0 billion in revenue in 2011, say our sources.

Two weeks ago, a group of US players launched a class action against Zynga and Facebook.

But when Zynga does list, its valuation will measure just how big the tech IPO bubble is getting.

This studio in Beijing is in charge of developing the game.

In 2009, it began buying large blocks of stock in companies like Zynga, LinkedIn and Facebook on the secondary market.

And Zynga investors say the drop in traffic had little effect on revenue because many players who dropped out didn't buy virtual goods.

A rift between the two companies would have benefited Zynga's rivals, such as EA's Playfish, Playdom and CrowdStar.

Yet the company has $1 billion in cash.

Online gaming site Zynga Inc. has also filed to go public.

Zynga also disclosed how reliant it is on its most-popular games, though the reliance is lessening over time.

Asked how big Zynga can become, Mr. Pincus has a difficult time hiding his ambition.

Zynga has since pulled the ads, and Mr. Pincus now says he was misunderstood.

Zynga's empire is made up of cartoonish online games that even Mr. Pincus acknowledges are goofy.

And now the site also features the painfully addicting Zynga games.

When Zynga added gold borders to weapons, sales shot up, this person says.

Unless its growth slows dramatically, Zynga's revenue will easily top $1 billion this year.

Zynga was aggressive in promoting game updates in user news feeds.

But Zynga is different. It doesn't have the weakness of those earlier IPOs.

According to the company, Zynga had 269 million active players in April, 2010.

In November, Electronic Arts bought the Zynga rival Playfish for as much as $400 million.

Zynga first entered China in 2010 when it bought XPD Media, a social game developer in Beijing.

Free company-wide gourmet meals are now routine. Zynga Inc.

More importantly, most users play Zynga's games on Facebook.

On Friday, after Zynga filed its prospectus, LinkedIn rallied, rising as much as 6%.

In May, they announced a five-year partnership expanding the use of Credits in Zynga games.

Zynga is transforming the game industry.

And I'm planning for Zynga to be there when they want to play.

The game will be a Chinese version of Zynga's most popular game, CityVille.

And, not surprisingly, Zynga has caught the attention of people beyond Silicon Valley.

At Zynga, you will find smart, creative people who are passionate about taking on new challenges.

By that measure, Zynga could debut and see its value rise above $20 billion.

Over 95% of Zynga's players never spend a nickel on its games.

In-game offers accounted for about a third of Zynga's estimated $250m 2009 revenues.

Zynga's IPO is listed as "delayed" on Yahoo Finance while standing at 75 days.

That's how Geocities did it. That's how Twitter did it.

It declined to comment on the lawsuit.

The social game developer is introduced its first game in China on Tuesday, an adaptation of the extremely popular CityVille.

Last year Zynga came under fire from TechCrunch, a Silicon Valley blog, for allowing misleading marketing offers to run on its site.

You even could make the argument that Facebook grew because of the value Zynga brought to the experience.

Another firm attracting attention is Zynga, which makes wildly popular social games, such as FarmVille (see picture) and CityVille.

He calls data the 'operating system' of Zynga.

In 2008, Zynga says its top-three games accounted for 93% of online game revenue.

Other CEOs of hot Internet companies such as Mark Pincus, the CEO of Zynga, have adopted similar stances.

While it's unlikely we can improve upon this classic, I look forward to playing Zynga games with them very soon.

Zynga's revenues for the first half of 2010 will be a stunning $350 million, half of which is operating profit.

Zynga didn't make data analysis a priority, though, until Mr. Pincus hired Cadir Lee in late 2008.

This is a well-run, financially healthy company.

Specifically over why Zynga needs to change its Q1 2011 accounting but not its calculations for prior years.

While many tech upstarts are money pits, Zynga made a $91 million profit last year.

The company launched a poker game in Hong Kong last year.

Zynga may be a good business, but the tech bubble is expanding

Zynga partners with Tencent to debut first mainland China game