Zynga Finally Sneaks Above Its IPO Price (ZNGA)
Zynga Finally Sneaks Above Its IPO Price (ZNGA)
Zynga closed at $10.05 today — just a hair above its IPO price of $10 — for the first time since its trading debut after shooting up more than 6 percent in trading today. A flurry of buy ratings (including one today from BTIG) and the prospect of Zynga expanding into online gambling have propelled it back to its starting point. A new note from BTIG's Richard Greenfield said Zynga's strategy of creating a ton of games with the hope of players liking at least one game will work. Here's what he said: We expect Zynga’s increasingly aggressive game roll-out pace in 2012 and expanding portfolio of genres/gaming verticals to be a key catalyst behind our BUY rating. Its stock has taken hit after hit since making its debut as a publicly traded company. But it looks like CEO Mark Pincus can finally breathe a sigh of relief now that he is once again a billionaire, based on his share of Zynga's stock. Please follow SAI on Twitter and Facebook.Join the conversation about this story »See Also:The Makers Of Farmville Could Grab Up To $5 Billion In Revenue If They Add Online GamblingZynga's Latest Attempt To Win Back Users'When Online Gambling Is Legalized, Facebook Will Be A $100 Billion Company'
INSIDE ZYNGA: How Mark Pincus' Raid On Electronic Arts Primed The Largest IPO Of 2011 (ERTS)
INSIDE ZYNGA: How Mark Pincus' Raid On Electronic Arts Primed The Largest IPO Of 2011 (ERTS)
Zynga CEO Mark Pincus is known for doing whatever it takes to win — including raiding the competition for talent, like he did at Electronic Arts. Zynga has poached and hired more than 200 former Electronic Arts employees. Sources close to the company told us the number of former EA employees at Zynga is actually much higher than that. One source very close to the companies said there were thousands of resumes coming in from Electronic Arts, a 8,000-plus employee company, going through Zynga's recruitment office. Pincus was not only able to pull in the top talent in the industry, but leave a competitor with a talent drain that gave the new social networking giant a huge advantage. Now Zynga will IPO at an $8.9 billion valuation, including unexercised options and warrants. That's well above Electronic Arts' valuation of $6.9 billion. Even not including unexercised options and warrants, Zynga is still more valuable than Electronic Arts at $7 billion. Here are just a few of EA's top executives that Zynga has poached:
John Schappert, chief operating officer, former COO of Electronic Arts
Mark Skaggs, head of FarmVille and CityVille, former vice president of Electronic Arts
Steve Chiang, studio head, former senior vice president of Electronic Arts
Jeff Karp, chief marketing officer, former executive vice president at Electronic Arts
Colleen McCreary, chief people officer, formerly director of human relations at Electronic Arts
Mike Verdu, chief creative officer, formerly vice president of EA's Los Angeles office
Amer Ajami, Los Angeles executive producer, former producer at Electronic Arts
Amir Rahimi, Los Angeles executive producer, former senior producer at Electronic Arts
Bing Gordon, the godfather of Zynga, played a crucial role in pulling talent from EA. Having been with the company since 1982, he knew a lot about EA's inner workings. Skaggs reported directly to Gordon during his time at EA before Gordon left to become a partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. Verdu, Skaggs, Ajami and Rahimi all worked together closely at Electronic Arts' Los Angeles office, sources told us. As soon as Skaggs was hired, he took most of his former team with him, sources said. Zynga hired Chiang, co-founded Tiburon Entertainment with Schappert in 1994, in March last year. The company needed some order eventually, and knew Schappert was the man for the job, sources told us. And even during his time at Electronic Arts, Schappert was still a whisper in Pincus's ear. Sources told us Schappert was a believer in social games and though Electronic Arts should go all-in on it. EA was instead content to build it out as a vertical and focus on its other titles, like Battlefield, one source told us. With Chiang in the stable, Zynga made a move to grab Schappert who came on board in April this year. He brought Karp with him. Now Schappert will probably be Zynga's next CEO. Pincus has said he hired Schappert to be his replacement, but he also tells his employees to always look for their own replacements. When briefed on the story, Electronic Arts and Zynga declined to comment. Please follow SAI on Twitter and Facebook.Join the conversation about this story »See Also:Meet The Most Powerful People Behind The Largest Tech IPO Since GoogleINSIDE ZYNGA: Meet The Man Charged With Helping The Company Grow UpBTIG: Here's Why You Should Buy Into The Biggest Tech IPO Since Google
The Makers Of FarmVille Aren't On Board With Online Gambling Yet
The Makers Of FarmVille Aren't On Board With Online Gambling Yet
A change in regulations, making online gambling more likely to be legal, could provide a whole new way of making money for social gaming giant Zynga — but it's really just a curiosity for now, sources close to the company told Business Insider. Zynga has not tried to make an online gambling game in countries where the laws are less strict around online gambling, a source close to the company told us. The source told us that things likely would not change any time soon. A source close to the company also said Zynga didn't want to "screw up that community." Games that attract players interested in online gambling aren't necessarily Zynga's forté — the FarmVille creator's games are built around bringing in your Facebook friends and interacting with them. Online gambling games like Full Tilt poker almost have a need to carry some anonymous component, a source close to Zynga said. "You might not want to take money from your friends or your mother on Facebook," the source, which asked to remain anonymous, said. "But at the same time, the people you play with don't have to be your Facebook friends." Another source close to the company at one point in its history told us it would be a huge opportunity for Zynga. The company already has the infrastructure to quickly build, deploy and scale a game like Zynga Poker, and could do so with a new Zynga game. Zynga still plans on exploring the idea, and there's a lot of talk at the office about it, a source close to the company told us. But nothing is in store in the foreseeable future, the source said. Please follow SAI on Twitter and Facebook.Join the conversation about this story »See Also:Here's Everything We Know About The iPad 3Three Simple Reasons Why Obama Will Win Re-ElectionWhy Was The Wife Of Switzerland's Central Banker Trading Francs Days Before A Devaluation?
Former OpenTable CEO Jeff Jordan Just Stepped Down As Executive Chairman (OPEN)
Former OpenTable CEO Jeff Jordan Just Stepped Down As Executive Chairman (OPEN)
Jeffrey Jordan has stepped down as executive chairman of OpenTable, with Thomas Layton taking his place, according to a report from Street Insider. OpenTable's stock has basically collapsed since Jeff Jordan left OpenTable as CEO. It's fallen 72% since he left in in May earlier this year. Jordan was at OpenTable for four years and led it when it IPO'd. From IPO to the time he left, the stock was up 266%. When he stepped down, he was still supposed to be guiding the company as executive chairman. Please follow SAI on Twitter and Facebook.Join the conversation about this story »See Also:IT'S HERE! Zynga Is Now Trading Publicly At $11BRUTAL: Zynga Already Crashed Below Its $10 IPO PriceWatch Mark Pincus Debut The Biggest Tech IPO Since Google
