In April, Zynga conducted a “secondary stock offering” in which insiders dumped 43 million shares of stock at $12 a share, raking in about $516 million.
Yesterday, four months later, Zynga reported a horrible quarter, and the stock plunged to $3.
In other words, Zynga insiders cashed out at exactly the right time.
In fact, they cashed out in the same quarter in which Zynga imploded.
The quarter had already begun when Zynga insiders shoveled their stock out the door.
By the time the quarter ended, Zynga’s business (and stock price) was in the tank.
According to Blodget, CEO Marc Pincus made $200 million off the stock sale, and two venture capital groups that invested on the company made over $60 million each on the sale. But he’s careful to note that it likely wasn’t intentional, and that “the amount they made in the sale, though huge, is still relative chicken-feed for them.” Catch up on this story over here.
» New kids in the ‘Ville: Zynga, the social gaming company made ubiquitous by Facebook, wrapped up some pivotal unveilings and announcements today. Three new games are in the offering (The Ville, ChefVille, and FarmVille 2), which means you may soon have a whole new slew of spam notifications to ignore. They’re also launching a new gaming network, “Zynga With Friends,” shoring up mobile compatibility which was blamed for their flagging stock value (down roughly one-third of it’s value since the company went public late last year). Of course, news about Zynga is never just news about Zynga — when Facebook filed their legally-required list of potential company-threatening weaknesses with the SEC, in preparation for their IPO, they revealed that Zynga accounts for 12% of their revenue.
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»The halt comes less than a month after Nasdaq officials had to stop all trading of Zynga stock, when investors began dumping their share thanks to new fear generated by the Facebook IPO slide. To make matters worse, Zynga saw an 8.2 percent reduction in active users last month. So, do you think the company will be able to bounce back?
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We have a ton of things we want to accomplish here and working for some conglomerate or having bean-counting investors breathing down our necks simply isn’t the way for us to achieve them.Taptaptap founder John Casasanta • In a statement released via the Camera+ developer’s blog, announcing that the popular camera replacement app had sold its 8 millionth copy. In a new profile on TheNextWeb, Casasanta revealed that his company has declined acquisition offers from some of the biggest names in tech, including Google, Twitter, Adobe, and Zynga. He says that, since Facebook acquired Instagram, the offers for his company have continued to grow both in size and frequency; however, the development studio simply values its independence too much to turn its direction over to the whim of investors. source (via • follow)
» Portfolio includes Facebook, Skype, Instagram, Zynga: Netscape co-founder Marc Andreessen’s Andreessen Horowitz, which in just three years has become one of Silicon Valley’s best-known venture capital firms, plans to take some of its expected future profits and put them to the good of the world at large. While the firm isn’t at the point where it has massive profits yet, considering it’s had at least two major buyouts already — Skype to Microsoft and Instagram to Facebook — their track record is looking solid and the end result of the firm’s work could mean tens of millions going to charity, at least. The six partners don’t have a set timetable or preferred non-profits in mind, but we suggest the one that made this video as a starting point.
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Zynga plans to buy OMGPOP, creators of the mega-popular ‘Draw Something’ iOS game. The move is unsurprising to many industry analysts, several of whom began predicting either a buyout or a clone of the new title, after ‘Draw Something’ ousted Zynga’s ‘Words with Friends’ as the top Facebook Connect game worldwide. With over 20 million new users on board, the newest mobile craze dispatched of the competition with ease. Now, Zynga is expected to pony up approximately $200 million to acquire the studio. (Photo by Asiatic League) source
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Yet another reason we wish the internet was the real world. Remember when Facebook announced that it might, maybe, potentially, could see itself having an IPO in 2012? Well, Zynga, perhaps the biggest beneficiary of the Facebook ecosystem, has beaten them to the punch. The popular social gaming company’s shares are now available for the public to purchase. The “Farmville” company’s stock, listed as “ZNGA” and priced at $10 a share by the company, hasn’t had a particularly good morning, falling below its IPO price at one point. Currently, it sits at just over $10. Will the stock begin to lean in Groupon’s downward direction, or will it aim for Facebook status? source
‘Words With Friends’ DEFENDS Alec Baldwin — We’ll Spell It Out for You | TMZ.com
This, friends, is why Alec Baldwin is awesome.
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