Zynga IPO: Game Maker Prices Shares At Top End Of Range

(Reuters) - Zynga Inc priced its shares at the top end of its expected range at $10 per share on Thursday, a source close to the process told the International Finance Review.

The company, which is the top publisher of games on Facebook such as "FarmVille" and "CityVille", sold 100 million shares raising $1 billion, the source told IFR on Thursday.

At $1 billion, Zynga's IPO would be the largest from a U.S. Internet company since Google Inc raised $1.7 billion in 2004.

Based on a fully diluted share count of 890 million shares, the IPO values Zynga at $8.9 billion.

Zynga is selling about 11 percent of diluted shares in the offering.

Zynga had previously been targeting a share price of $8.50 to $10.

Underwriters on the deal were lead by Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs.

The International Finance Review is owned by Thomson Reuters.

(Reporting By Liana B. Baker, editing by Bernard Orr)
Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for Restrictions.

Comments

[GM Thomas]

09:46 AM on 12/16/2011

Remember the early days of Microsoft? The Byte Magazine ads and Bill Gates selling a Basic compiler for DOS? Who knew where it would go? The market was fragmented and it looked like the small people would never beat the likes of Digital Equipment Corp., IBM, etc.

I am not saying that Zynga is a safe bet for long term. Far from it. Operating on the Facebook platform, it takes risk takers along with an ability to think through each step of an emerging social/digital industry. Yes, somewhere there is yet another Bill Gates.

[nogimmicks]

02:36 AM on 12/16/2011

What a dizzying parade of BS. The Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, bubbling 'funds', and the like just run out of ideas where to keep their increasingly fake money.

[Olderandwiser55]

11:03 PM on 12/15/2011

So bizarre. Those facebook games made him rich...

[Steven Travis]

09:48 PM on 12/15/2011

This is the kind of nonsense that makes you beat your head against the wall.

[Darren Ali]

10:31 PM on 12/15/2011

make some room on that wall for two