Zynga Files $1 Billion IPO, "We're Just Getting Started"
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Social gaming company Zynga filed its much-anticipated IPO Friday and is seeking to raise $1 billion, although the stock ticker and exchange have yet to be named. Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) and Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) were tapped to lead the deal and will get help from BofA/Merrill Lynch, Barclays Capital, JP Morgan and Allen & Company.
The company, which is seeking to transform the gaming experience, said it already has 232 million monthly active players for their popular FarmVille, CityVille and other online games in 166 countries. The service has more monthly active users on Facebook than the next 15 social game developers combined.
Showing that good things aren’t always free, Zynga reported revenue of $235.4 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2011, up 133 percent from the $100.9 million reported last year. The company posted net income of $11.8 million in the same quarter, up from $6.4 million last year.
The company had cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities of nearly $1 billion at the end of March. This is up from the $738 million held at the end of last year.
The first risk factor mentioned in the filing was Facebook. Zynga warned potential investor that if they are unable to maintain a good relationship with Facebook, the business will suffer. In fact, Zynga mentioned Facebook in its IPO filing over 200 times, illustrating its reliance on the social medial powerhouse.
Founded in 2007, the company user base has grown to 148 million monthly unique users in 166 countries and because as users typically play more than one of its games each month, the monthly active user base is 232 million. "Our players create and store more than 38,000 virtual items every second and spend 2 billion minutes a day with our service. In just over 4 years, we've generated over $1.5 billion in bookings," the Founder and CEO Mark Pincus stated.
Zynga also has over 2,000 employees.
Pincus said while he is humbled by the size of the audience, "they are just getting started."
He said when his kids enter high school "there's no doubt that they'll search on Google (Nasdaq: GOOG), they'll share with their friends on Facebook and they'll probably do a lot of shopping on Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN). And I'm planning for Zynga to be there when they want to play."
The IPO is still a few months away. LinkenIn (Nasdaq: LNKD), for example, took about 4 months to go public from its initial S-1 filing. Pandora (NYSE: P) was about the same.
The company, which is seeking to transform the gaming experience, said it already has 232 million monthly active players for their popular FarmVille, CityVille and other online games in 166 countries. The service has more monthly active users on Facebook than the next 15 social game developers combined.
Showing that good things aren’t always free, Zynga reported revenue of $235.4 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2011, up 133 percent from the $100.9 million reported last year. The company posted net income of $11.8 million in the same quarter, up from $6.4 million last year.
The company had cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities of nearly $1 billion at the end of March. This is up from the $738 million held at the end of last year.
The first risk factor mentioned in the filing was Facebook. Zynga warned potential investor that if they are unable to maintain a good relationship with Facebook, the business will suffer. In fact, Zynga mentioned Facebook in its IPO filing over 200 times, illustrating its reliance on the social medial powerhouse.
Founded in 2007, the company user base has grown to 148 million monthly unique users in 166 countries and because as users typically play more than one of its games each month, the monthly active user base is 232 million. "Our players create and store more than 38,000 virtual items every second and spend 2 billion minutes a day with our service. In just over 4 years, we've generated over $1.5 billion in bookings," the Founder and CEO Mark Pincus stated.
Zynga also has over 2,000 employees.
Pincus said while he is humbled by the size of the audience, "they are just getting started."
He said when his kids enter high school "there's no doubt that they'll search on Google (Nasdaq: GOOG), they'll share with their friends on Facebook and they'll probably do a lot of shopping on Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN). And I'm planning for Zynga to be there when they want to play."
The IPO is still a few months away. LinkenIn (Nasdaq: LNKD), for example, took about 4 months to go public from its initial S-1 filing. Pandora (NYSE: P) was about the same.
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