Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Zynga Seeks $1 Billion In IPO

Posted by Soulskill on from the that's-a-lot-of-farmville dept.

bizwriter writes "Zynga finally filed its IPO paperwork today, as it wants to raise $1 billion. And while the reports of how well it did were significantly overstated, this is a company that still makes significant revenue and profit. If you thought that LinkedIn's IPO was hyped and hyper, Zynga's going to put that all to shame."

2 of 93 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Though High, Not Even Close to LinkedIn Hype by econolog · · Score: 4, Insightful

    What we actually have here is new companies filing for IPO's which allows the company to raise capital to expand and generate revenue. Many companies in other sectors launch IPO's long before they are profitable. Consider that we have seen relatively few tech IPO's in the last couple of years. Maybe this should be taken as a sign that there is some growth happening? I thought that before we had a bubble there had to be a build up... After all in the first bubble there wasn't a good frame work for many to generate revenue. Now several forms have been developed and new applications are becoming apparent. This increases the value of tech companies and the odds of new ones becoming profitable. On the other side it could be seen as entrepreneurs going for a mad dash to cash out on the equity they have developed in a scam-like fashion (eg: leaving shareholders with more or less worthless companies while cashing their stock options). I think that is largely how it is perceived in the general financial community but it remains to be seen if this is warranted. It could be a self enforcing effect where financiers see potential signs of a bubble -> cut funding -> entrepreneurs are worried about loss of hard work -> issue IPO. Summary: Could be a little early to call a bubble though the US isn't out of the woods yet.

  2. Re:Though High, Not Even Close to LinkedIn Hype by lotho+brandybuck · · Score: 4, Insightful
    I'm not going to try to understand the whole prospectus, but if they're "raising" 1B, their total valuation will be over that unless the current stockholders want absolutely nothing for their shares. Somehow I doubt that's going to happen.

    Does anybody know what the estimated market cap will be?

    I'm sad that there's so much valuation in this virtual crap as opposed to investment in solid manufacturing or infrastructure, like solar and LED companies, probably becuase that's what I'm in. But some folks obviously think the relentless march to Idiocracy (buying shit in the real world to better play games with your friends in the virtual world???) in this country will be quite profitable, and they may be right.