A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | CH | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9
 | |
 | |
| Formerly | Presidio Media (April–July 2007) |
|---|---|
| Company type | Subsidiary |
| Nasdaq: ZNGA (2011–2022) | |
| Industry | Video games |
| Founded | April 2007 |
| Founders |
|
| Headquarters | , |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people |
|
Number of employees | 2,952 (2021) |
| Parent | Take-Two Interactive (2022–present) |
| Website | www |
| Footnotes / references [nb 1][2][3][4][5] | |
Zynga Inc. (/ˈzɪŋɡə/) is an American developer running social video game services. It was founded in April 2007, with headquarters in San Mateo, California.[6] The company primarily focuses on mobile and social networking platforms.[7][8] Zynga states its mission as "connecting the world through games".[9]
Zynga launched FarmVille on Facebook in June 2009,[2][10] reaching ten million daily active users (DAU) within six weeks.[11] As of August 2017, Zynga had thirty million monthly active users (MAU).[12] In 2017, its most successful games were Zynga Poker and Words with Friends 2, with about 57 million games being played at any given moment;[13][14] and CSR Racing 2, the most popular racing game on mobile devices.[15] Zynga began trading on NASDAQ on December 16, 2011,[16] under the ticker ZNGA.[17][18][19]
Take-Two Interactive announced in January 2022 its intent to buy Zynga for $12.7 billion.[20] The deal was completed in May 2022.[21]
According to Take-Two Interactive, about 10% of the world's population plays Zynga's games every month.[22]
History
Zynga was founded in April 2007 by Mark Pincus, Eric Schiermeyer, Justin Waldron, Michael Luxton, Steve Schoettler, and Andrew Trader under the name Presidio Media.[23][1][3] The company name changed to Zynga in July 2007.[1][24] Zynga was named after Pincus' American bulldog "Zinga",[25][26] and uses an image of a bulldog as its logo. Zynga's first game, Texas Hold'Em Poker, now known as Zynga Poker, was released on Facebook in July 2007. It was the first game Facebook introduced on its social networking platform.[27]
Zynga became the Facebook app developer with the most monthly active users in April 2009, with 40 million people playing their games that month.[28] Soon after, the company opened its first external game studio in Baltimore, Zynga East, led by Brian Reynolds.[29][30][31]
In June 2009, Zynga acquired MyMiniLife which built and launched FarmVille on Facebook. By August, Farmville was the first game on Facebook to reach 10 million daily active users.[32] On November 23, 2009, FarmVille.com went live as Zynga's first stand-alone game.[33] In February 2010, Farmville had over 80 million players,[34] and on May 18, 2010, Facebook and Zynga entered into a five-year relationship to expand the use of Facebook Credits in Zynga's games.[35]
In December 2010, Zynga's game CityVille surpassed FarmVille as its most popular game[36] with over 61 million monthly active users and a base of over 16 million daily active users.[37]
Zynga filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to raise up to $1 billion in an initial public offering on July 1, 2011. At the time, the company had 2,000 employees.[38] On November 28, 2011, the Finnish game developer Rovio Entertainment rejected an acquisition attempt from Zynga worth $2.25 billion.[39] Zynga began trading on NASDAQ on December 16, 2011.[40]
On June 26, 2012, during the Zynga Unleashed conference, Zynga announced the "Zynga With Friends" network, aiming to connect players of Zynga game titles across multiple platforms.[41] Zynga also announced the Zynga API, intended to help developers build social games.[42] The company announced that three new partners were developing games for Zynga.com including 50 Cubes, Majesco Entertainment and Portalarium. The company unveiled the Zynga Partners for Mobile program to help increase Zynga's presence on mobile devices.[43]
In October 2012, Zynga announced a partnership with bwin.party, an international real-money gaming operator, to launch real-money gaming in the UK,[44] including the release of online poker, a suite of 180 casino games, and the first online FarmVille-branded real money slots game during 2013.[44][45][46]
On June 3, 2013, Zynga announced layoffs of 520 employees — roughly 18% of its workforce[47] — and closed offices in New York, Los Angeles, and Dallas.[48][49] By July 2013, Zynga had reportedly lost nearly half of its user base from the previous year. Consequently, investors decreased Zynga's valuation by $400 million.[50] On July 25, 2013, Zynga said they would not be pursuing real money game production in the US.[51] Following this announcement, shares dropped 13%.[52]
In July 2013, Zynga hired Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment President Don Mattrick as its new CEO.[53][54] Pincus remained as Zynga's chairman and chief product officer.[55][56]
In January 2014, the company announced the layoff of 314 workers, about 15% of its total workforce.[57][58] In April 2014, founder & former CEO Pincus stepped down from his role as chief product officer. He remained as chairman of the board.[59]
First quarter results for 2014 showed that daily active user numbers fell from 53 million to 28 million year-over-year.[60] In April 2014, the company announced its new hire of Alex Garden, co-founder of Relic Entertainment and former Microsoft Game Studios executive.[61]
In July 2014, Zynga signed a lease for office space in Maitland, Florida. Less than one year later, this Orlando-area office was closed.[62][63]
Don Mattrick left Zynga in April 2015, replaced by predecessor Mark Pincus.[64] Frank Gibeau took over as CEO on March 7, 2016, with Pincus once again stepping aside. Gibeau's last position was as head of mobile for Electronic Arts. He joined Zynga's board of directors in August, 2015.[65][66]
In the fourth quarter of 2017, revenue was $233.3 million, a 22% increase from the same quarter in 2016, the best quarterly performance in five years.[67] As of January 2018, Zynga had 1,681 employees,[68] approximately 80 million monthly active users,[69] and a market capitalization of $3.39 billion.[70] According to the company, Zynga has had over one billion people play its games since its inception in 2007.[71]
On January 10, 2022, Take-Two Interactive announced its intention to acquire the company in a cash-and-stock deal with a value of $12.7 billion, with Take-Two acquiring all outstanding shares of Zynga at $9.86 apiece[20] Both shareholders of the companies approved the merger on May 19, 2022, and the closing of the transaction took effect on May 23, 2022.[72][73]
In June 2023, during the FTC v. Microsoft trial cross-examination, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer disclosed that Microsoft considered purchasing Zynga before Take-Two Interactive acquired the studio in 2022.[74]
Funding
In its first round of funding in January 2008, Zynga received US$10 million.[75] In July of the same year, Zynga received US$29 million in venture finance from several firms.[76] During its first four years of operation Zynga raised a total of $854 million in three rounds of fund raising. The last round, in February 2011, raised $490 million.[77]
Public offering
On July 1, 2011, the company filed its Form S-1 registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).[78] Zynga was priced at $10 per share and began trading on NASDAQ under ZNGA on December 16, 2011. The stock closed down 5% on its first day,[16] then climbed 26% to $13.39 per share after Facebook's IPO filing on February 1, 2012 (Facebook had reported that 12% of its revenue comes from Zynga).[79] In March 2012 ZNGA was trading at $14.50.[80] For several years the stock performed poorly, but in 2017 the price hit a three-year high. By the end of 2017 Zynga's shares were trading at $4.00, a 56% gain for the year.[81]
Acquisitions
| Date | Games | Company | New name | Price | Country | Footnotes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2008 | Yoville | cb | USA | [82] | ||
| Feb 2010 | Serious Business | USA | [83] | |||
| Feb 2010 | Los Angeles, CA
USA |
[84] | ||||
| Feb 2010 | Bangalore,
India |
[85] | ||||
| May 2010 | XPD Media | Beijing,
China |
[86] | |||
| Aug 2010 | Unoh Games | Zynga Japan | Tokyo,
Japan |
[87][88] | ||
| June 2010 | Challenge Games | Zynga Austin | Austin, Texas
USA |
[86] | ||
| June 2010 | FrontierVille | Zynga East | Timonium, MD
USA |
[89][90][91] | ||
| Aug 2010 | Conduit Labs | Zynga Boston | Cambridge, MA
USA |
[86][92] | ||
| Sept 2010 | Aves Engine
(Game engine technology) |
Dextrose AG | Zynga Germany | Frankfurt,
Germany |
[87] | |
| Oct 2010 | Bonfire Studios | Zynga Dallas | Dallas, Texas
USA |
[86] | ||
| Dec 2010 | Words with Friends;
Chess with Friends |
Newtoy, Inc. | Zynga with Friends | McKinney, Texas
USA |
[93][94][95][96] | |
| Jan 2011 | CSI: Crime City
Parking Wars Drop7 |
Area/Code | Zynga New York | New York,
USA |
[97] | |
| March 2011 | MoPets;
Madden 2005 and 2006; NASCAR 07; Pirates of the Caribbean; Flowerz |
Floodgate Entertainment | Boston,
USA |
[98] | ||
| April 2011 | MarketZero | Austin, Texas
USA |
[99] | |||
| Jun 2011 | Social browser | Flock | [99] | |||
| March 2012 | Draw Something | OMGPop | $180 million | [100][101] | ||
| June 2012 | Tomb Raider;
Tony Hawk |
Buzz Monkey | Zynga Eugene | Oregon,
USA |
[102] | |
| Sept 2012 | Lucky Train | A Bit Lucky | $20 million+ | [103][104] | ||
| Nov 2012 | Battlestone | November Software | [105] | |||
| June 2013 | Wizard of Oz;
Hit it Rich Slots |
Spooky Cool Labs | [106] | |||
| Jan 2014 | CSR Racing;
Clumsy Ninja |
NaturalMotion | $527 million | Oxford,
United Kingdom |
[107] | |
| June 2015 | Product Incubator | SuperLabs | $1.00 | [108] | ||
| June 2016 | Dragon Academy | Team Chaos | Zdroj:https://en.wikipedia.org?pojem=Zynga |