Zynga shares tumbled nearly 40% Thursday, a day after the company reported earnings that missed analysts' expectations.
At a special dog-friendly press conference at its headquarters in San Francisco, Zynga announced some of its plans for the future, including an API for both Zynga developers and third parties.
Stocks closed out an ugly week. Despite initial euphoria surrounding the debut of Facebook on the public markets, the social network's shares barely popped above its offering price and failed to inspire investors to buy into the broader market.
As Wall Street makes final preparations for the largest technology debut by value in history, it has also faced what some bankers and investors have come to see as a series of snubs from Facebook.
When Zynga purchased Draw Something from creator OMGPOP a few weeks ago, the two companies promised that the acquisition would bring new features to the game, and today they delivered.
A day before Zynga bought his company, OMGPop CEO Dan Porter told CNNMoney he wants to keep making more offbeat games.
Facebook will permanently halt trades of its stock on private secondary markets at the end of this week. The move is to allow the social network to finalise its shareholder list and tighten information pathways leading up to its initial public offering, expected in May.
Stocks closed modestly lower Friday, with the Dow snapping a two-week winning streak, as investors turned their focus to developments in Europe with little other news to chew on.
Mark Pincus, CEO of Zynga, explains how his company's upcoming new website will make it into a game network.
Zynga, maker of "FarmVille," is trying to diversify beyond its signature Facebook games.
Trading volume is anemic. Bonuses are down. Investment banking activity is sluggish. But instead of singing a requiem for Wall Street, investors are treating the big banks like they are rock stars.
A third straight week of U.S. stock gains is on the line Friday as investors turning their focus to developments in Europe.
"Slingo," a leader in online games for 17 years, is making its way to Facebook with a redesigned version of the popular bingo/slot-machine game.
In its first financial report as a public company, Zynga edged past analysts' expectations but posted a loss thanks to its large stock-based compensation expenses.
Remember the pre-Web personal diary? It had a lock on it, and after writing your thoughts about the day, it stayed tucked in a drawer. You talked about dreams and disappointments and school and love, and sometimes you culled it for phrases in the love letter you agonized over for a week before leaving it in the mailbox or locker of your interest. The last thing you wanted was for someone else to read it, at least not until the beloved saw it and said, "Yes."
Can't get enough of those virtual cows and crops from FarmVille? Good news, agrarians: Zynga toys and games are coming this fall.
Facebook has played a big role in the private trading markets that allow eligible investors the chance to snap up shares of hot Internet companies years before they go public.
Now that Facebook has finally filed for its much anticipated initial public offering, the enthusiasm for other social media investments has spread like wildfire.
U.S. stocks were set for a timid open Thursday as traders await comments from Federal Reserve chair Ben Bernanke, and keep a wary eye on Greece's debt talks.
The tech IPO market heated up in 2011 with Groupon, Zynga, LinkedIn and Pandora. But the two biggest names, Facebook and Twitter, remain private with no easy way for investors to buy shares directly.
Shares of online gaming giant Zynga closed below their initial public offering price on Friday, after soaring 10% at the start of trading.
Turns out there's billions to be made from FarmVille cows and crops. Zynga priced its initial public offering at $10 a share late Thursday, a mark that values the gamemaker at about $7 billion.
Groupon, LinkedIn and Pandora may have all plunged from the prices they hit on their first day of trading.
What's so addictive about a Scrabble-like online game that it can get you kicked off an airplane?
Zynga is poised to fling itself into a public market that has recently turned cold toward its peers: a crop of Web companies with lots of buzz but fledgling business models.
In recent years, social games have become increasingly prevalent on mobile devices, providing entertainment, yes, but also a way to maintain contact with family and friends.
Today's daily deal: Groupon's stock.
How diverse are Silicon Valley's offices and executive suites? Activists have been trying for years to answer that question, but some of the industry's largest and most influential employers -- including Apple, Google, Amazon and Facebook -- closely guard that information.
Groupon is poised to start trading publicly, but the road to an initial public offering for the popular daily deals site has been rocky -- and one that skeptics say is reminiscent of the dot-com bubble.
Alternative investing marketplace SecondMarket has raised $15 million -- the latest sign of the healthy demand for private tech companies.
Google's social network, Google+, recently sent tremors through the gaming world with the announcement that it would be launching a new social games service.
There are no rules to naming a startup. And most entrepreneurs do assume that the name they choose will change before their businesses really start to gain momentum.
Dedicated social gamers devote many hours to tending their online farms and digital pets -- and lots of money, too. This year they'll spend an estimated $650 million in real cash on virtual goods.
For gamers, the urge to conquer and pillage dates back to time immemorial. Tabletop amusements like chess and its numerous variants have enthralled players for centuries.
Business social network LinkedIn released its first financial results since its initial public offering in May, and reported a surprise profit on sales that beat analysts expectations.
Twitter has landed a major influx of cash to help it expand: The five-year-old social media company said Monday that it has just wrapped up a "significant" funding round led by venture firm DST Global.
Zynga, creator of the -Ville online gaming franchise, filed Friday to raise up to $1 billion in an initial public offering.
Investors are betting on video game publishers...and winning big.
CNNMoney: Zynga IPO coming soonupdated: Fri Jun 03 2011 16:19:00
Zynga is preparing for an initial public offering, and a filing could come as early as next week, according to those with knowledge of the company's plans.
As hot tech companies line up to test the IPO market, trading in restricted, private markets softened last quarter.
Lady Gaga is the first Twitter user with over 10 million followers, which is a first for both the singer and Twitter itself.
Two social media heavyweights -- Lady Gaga and Zynga -- will partner for GagaVille, an offshoot of social game FarmVille.
Facebook on Thursday introduced a program that, in effect, offers consumers a financial incentive to watch ads on the site.
This is the way social networks end: Not with a bang, but a "pivot."
In an old East Village music hall in downtown New York, more than 500 investors from around the country crowded into a dimly lit auditorium to hear 11 startups pitch.
In the technology world, a form of breaking bread can involve sharing hardware schematics.
For my senior year at Stanford, my very last quarter, I took a computer science class just to fulfill a requirement. I thought I was going to go on to medical school, I had taken the MCAT. But in that class I actually fell in love. So I spent a year doing biotech work and programming at night and studying and reading. Then I got a job programming -- I went in and convinced them that I was pretty decent at writing code and I was pretty passionate about what I wanted to do.
The video game industry has decided to shoot the messenger.
In the world of gaming, money doesn't necessarily buy respect.
Twitter has 200 million users, but doesn't yet have a business model for turning a profit on them. Can an outsider do better?
Investors spent $158 million snapping up shares of privately held companies like Facebook on SecondMarket's platform last quarter -- twice the volume the exchange had just one quarter earlier.
Facebook's days as a secretive and private company are numbered: By early 2012, the social networking giant is poised to either hold an initial public offering or begin disclosing its financial results.
Social gaming giant Zynga has acquired Flock, an early pioneer in creating a social Web browser.
Facebook game developer Zynga has proved once again that it knows exactly what it needs to do to keep millions of Facebook users happy and occupied.
In March, CNN's Pauline Chiou talked with Zynga Games CEO Mark Pincus about his company's addictive online games.
Tending to virtual farms was so last week.
Do you really want your friends, family and co-workers knowing how many hours you spend tending to an imaginary farm on Facebook?
Social gaming giant Zynga, the developer of FarmVille, is readying a fresh hit for its addicts: CityVille.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg says he's made "every mistake you can make" in business, but love of the product keeps users faithful.
Hulu now reaches 30 million viewers a month, and Zynga's games draw a bigger daily audience than the New York Times.
Electronic Arts has signed a five-year deal to use Facebook Credits as the only accepted method of payment for its games on the social networking site.
To bolster its digital currency, Facebook is deepening ties with digital purchasing provider PayPal, the two companies said at an event Tuesday.
When customers are called users, customer service takes on a different meaning.
Sharpen up your hoes, Apple fans. "FarmVille" has cropped up on the iPad.
Facebook issued a stern warning to independent developers Monday in response to reports that some applications on the site were sharing identifying information about users.
HLN's Jennifer Westhoven explains how some Facebook games collect and distribute your info even when you aren't playing.
Many of Facebook's most popular apps are sharing personally identifiable information of their users with dozens of advertising and Internet-tracking companies, in violation of the social-networking giant's own rules, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
Although Facebook isn't yet public, employees and other insiders have been able to cash out some of their equity through private stock-sale deals. But the company is trying to dump cold water on that rapidly heating up market: Facebook recently began charging employees a $2,500 fee if they sell their private stock.
Zynga's hit Facebook game "FarmVille" is arguably the most widely played video game in existence. What is especially impressive about that is that "FarmVille" isn't any fun.
The stereotypical "gamer" is a teenage boy locked in his basement, playing World of Warcraft with a cube of Mountain Dew at his side. But games on social networks like Facebook have redefined the genre, and they're reaching previously untapped customers: Older women have become a key fan base.
Facebook said Wednesday it has deleted all applications created by Pencake, wiping out widgets used by an estimated 45 million Facebook members.
If online reports are to be believed, Google could be cooking up a rival for Facebook -- and bringing the maker of popular social games like "FarmVille" with them.
Fresh off a deal that will keep 'FarmVille," "Mafia Wars" and other popular Zynga titles on Facebook for at least the next five years, the company has inked a partnership with Yahoo to bring its social games to the Internet giant's massive userbase.
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