Zynga

Zynga Inc. IPO Deal size: The San Francisco developer of online games CityVille and FarmVille sold 100 million shares at $10 each, raising $1 billion. It was the largest IPO for a U.S. Internet-related firm since Google Inc. raised $1.66 billion in August 2004. First-day pop: Zynga stock finished its first day of trading on Nasdaq at $9.50, down 5% of its value. It traded as high as $11.50 shortly after the session opened, but soon deflated, falling as low as $9. 2010 revenue: $597.5 million 2010 net income: $90.6 million Employees: More than 2,000 Audience: More than 150 million players from 166 countries Source: Los Angeles Times research

Can social change be the basis for a blockbuster online game? Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn hope so. They're the authors of "Half the Sky," the bestselling 2009 book and later a PBS series that tells compelling stories of women around the world who overcame oppression and kicked off a movement for the rights of women. Now "Half the Sky Movement: The Game" debuts Monday on Facebook with the potential to bring the message about women's issues to millions more. It's no accident that it launches in time for International Women's Day on Friday.

Zynga has shuffled its deck in a management reorganization and tossed out its chief operating officer, John Schappert. The move came Wednesday after a turbulent two weeks in which Zynga saw its stock fall to record lows after a disappointing second-quarter financial report and was smacked with two lawsuits . "John has made significant contributions to the games industry throughout his career, and we appreciate all that he has done for...

Shares in troubled Zynga fell another 4% Friday after the Web gaming giant revealed new terms with Facebook that led to investor concern it would lose preferential treatment on the world's No. 1 social network. Under the terms of an amended agreement between the two companies, disclosed by Zynga late Thursday, Facebook is no longer prohibited from making its own Web games, ending its role as the special partner. The gaming company is now covered by Facebook's "standard terms of service.

It was SadVille atZynga Inc.'s headquarters after the San Francisco creator of such games as"FarmVille"and "CityVille" posted its second-quarter earnings and watched its stock price immediately drop 41%. Zynga's stock, which had gained 16 cents to close at $5.08, plunged to as low as $3 in after-hours trading following the earnings release. The price was a significant fall from grace from Zynga's initial public offering in December, when its shares debuted at $10 and climbed to a high of $14.69 on March 2. The gaming company's disappointing earnings were also blamed, in part, for an 8% drop in the price ofFacebook Inc.'s shares after hours.

Zynga Inc.'s bid to cash in on Wall Street's voracious appetite for Internet stocks comes with a tantalizing prospect — a highly profitable online game business. The social gaming juggernaut hopes to raise $1 billion in an initial public offering of its stock, according to its filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday. That would value the creator of FarmVille, CityVille and other popular games on Facebook at about $10 billion. Zynga's filing follows stock offerings from a cluster of Internet companies, including Pandora Media Inc., LinkedIn Corp.

Zynga has lost another "chief. " The San Francisco social gaming company confirmed on Monday that its chief marketing and chief revenue officer, Jeff Karp, has resigned. Karp left after just 13 months at Zynga. He was previously executive vice president of Electronic Arts, where he headed up the company's Play Label. Karp came to Zynga after his former colleague at EA, John Schappert, recruited him to join the rapidly growing social games company. Schappert, who has been Zynga's chief operating officer, left his job in August.

Shares in troubled Zynga fell another 4% Friday after the Web gaming giant revealed new terms with Facebook that led to investor concern it would lose preferential treatment on the world's No. 1 social network. Under the terms of an amended agreement between the two companies, disclosed by Zynga late Thursday, Facebook is no longer prohibited from making its own Web games, ending its role as the special partner. The gaming company is now covered by Facebook's "standard terms of service.

Online gaming juggernaut Zynga Inc. has unveiled a slew of products aimed at diversifying its business beyond Facebook and reassuring potential investors of its growth prospects in the burgeoning social games market. In its first major announcement since filing for an initial public offering in July, the developer of FarmVille and Mafia Wars said Tuesday that it plans to launch a site separate from Facebook in which players can congregate and play its games. The San Francisco company also announced four new titles with flashier graphics and more sophisticated features, some of which can be played on smartphones and tablets.

The tiff between the world's largest social network and the company behind the "FarmVille"  social game escalated this week. Facebook on Tuesday shot back at Zynga, saying the number of people playing games on the social network on a monthly basis grew 8% in the first six months of this year. The figure directly contradicted Zynga's contention in July that the number of players on Facebook shrank 16% between April 1 and June 30. Zynga blamed the "challenging" Facebook environment for swinging to a second-quarter loss and missing its annual financial targets.

Troubled social games giant Zynga lost one more senior executive on Tuesday and promoted four to replace its depleted ranks. David Wehner, chief financial officer of the San Francisco company behind "Farmville" and "Words With Friends," is leaving to take a senior finance job at Facebook, Zynga announced Tuesday. The move comes three months after Zynga's chief operating officer, John Schappert, exited and two months after the departure of chief marketing and revenue officer Jeff Karp.

Already prepared for the worst, Zynga Inc. shareholders got a welcome surprise Wednesday as the social gaming company reported better-than-expected revenue for the third quarter, plus a $200-million stock buyback and a partnership for online gambling in Britain. Zynga shares shot up 13% in after-hours trading as a result, helping to partly reverse losses of 75% so far this year. The San Francisco company warned investors two weeks ago that its financial performance for the year would be lower than expected and that it was taking a significant write-down on its $180-million purchase in March of Omgpop, the maker of the mobile game "Draw Something.

After the coffee. Before ignoring a new version of the iPad. The Skinny: For some reason my DVR blew off recording Fox's "New Girl" last night. Any other Time Warner Cable subscribers have the same problem or is mine just possessed? Wednesday's headlines include Mel Karmazin's plans to leave SiriusXM, Netflix stock tumbles after it posts disappointing results, and the National Geographic Channel movie “SEAL Team Six: The Raid on Osama bin Laden" gets some last-minute editing.  Daily Dose: The World Series starts Wednesday night in San Francisco and Fox is hoping a Tigers-Giants battle will deliver.

Zynga Inc. has laid off about 150 employees, shut down 13 games and is closing a production studio in a cost-cutting move for the troubled social-gaming giant. The cutbacks Tuesday come almost three weeks after the San Francisco firm reduced its financial projections amid a weakening market for Facebook games and a day before it was scheduled to release third-quarter earnings. Zynga is shutting down a studio in Boston that made its “Indiana Jones Adventure World” game. The company has proposed closing facilities in Japan and Britain as well, and is laying off staff at an Austin, Texas, studio that made “The Ville.” Chief Executive Mark Pincus said in an email to staffers that Zynga is “parting ways” with about 5% of its workforce.

How low can Zynga's stock go? Below the total value of the cash it has on hand, the securities it owns, and the amount it paid in March for its San Francisco headquarters, according to J.P. Morgan analyst Doug Anmuth. Combined, those assets are worth $2.46 per share, Anmuth wrote in a report released Thursday night. In afternoon trading Friday, Zynga stock was at $2.35, meaning Wall Street is valuing the social and mobile game company's business at, essentially, nothing. The 16% drop in Zynga's already battered stock price came after the company warned Thursday that its 2012 financial performance would be below previous projections and that it is taking a write-down of $85 million to $95 million on its acquisition of "Draw Something" game maker OMGPOP in March for $180 million.

ynga's shares plummeted 19% in after-hours trading after the troubled social gaming company cut its financial projections for the year and announced it would write down nearly $100 million from its recent acquisition of OMGPOP, the maker of "Draw Something. " In March, San Francisco-based Zynga paid $180 million for OMGPOP based primarily on the value of "Draw Something," which was at the time hugely popular on mobile devices and the top-selling game on Apple's iTunes Store. However, it soon became clear that Zynga bought OMGPOP at the peak of the game's popularity, because its usage rapidly declined in the following months.

Zynga Inc., the biggest developer of games for Facebook, will file for an initial public offering Wednesday, according to GreenCrest Capital Management, which cited a "major investor" in the start-up. The company has chosen Morgan Stanley to be the lead underwriter of an offering that will raise more than $1 billion, said Nitsan Hargil, an analyst at GreenCrest, which focuses on closely held firms. He didn't name the investor, saying only that it was an early backer of Zynga. Zynga, known for FarmVille and Texas HoldEm Poker, is joining the biggest wave of Internet IPOs since the dot-com heyday in 2000.

Zynga Inc., the social-gaming company known for "FarmVille" and "Texas HoldEm Poker," filed to raise $1 billion in an initial public offering, letting investors bet on the surging market for virtual goods. The IPO will be managed by Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Barclays Capital, JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Allen & Co., according to a regulatory filing today. The company didn't say how many shares it would sell or at what price. Zynga, which leads the market for games played on Facebook Inc.'s site and other social networks, is joining the biggest wave of Internet IPOs since the dot-com heyday in 2000.

Zynga Inc. has fired back at Electronic Arts Inc., calling EA's copyright infringement lawsuit against it "baseless" and filing a countersuit alleging that the video game giant for prevented its employees from leaving to work for Zynga. “Today we responded to EA's claims, which we believe have no merit," the San Francisco social gaming company said Friday in a statement. "We also filed a counterclaim which addresses actions by EA we believe to be anticompetitive and unlawful business practices, including legal threats and demands for no-hire agreements.” Zynga's counterclaim escalates the battle between the two Bay Area gaming behemoths, both in court and in the hotly competitive market for mobile and social games.

Zynga has lost another "chief. " The San Francisco social gaming company confirmed on Monday that its chief marketing and chief revenue officer, Jeff Karp, has resigned. Karp left after just 13 months at Zynga. He was previously executive vice president of Electronic Arts, where he headed up the company's Play Label. Karp came to Zynga after his former colleague at EA, John Schappert, recruited him to join the rapidly growing social games company. Schappert, who has been Zynga's chief operating officer, left his job in August.