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Zynga Preparing To File IPO: Report

Published by pratyushkp on May 25th, 2011 - in Social, Technology

Image via CrunchBase

Zynga, the force behind wildly popular social games like Farmville, Mafia Wars, and FrontierVille, is preparing to file its initial public offering, writes All Things D‘s Kara Swisher, citing unnamed sources “close to the situation.”

According to All Things D, Zynga may file with the Securities Exchange Commission “as early as this week, or next week at the latest.”

The IPO follows hot on the heels of LinkedIn, which was predicted to touch off a slew of IPOs by Internet companies such as Groupon and Facebook.

The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this year that Zynga’s revenues in 2010–the company’s third year in business–reached $850 million, triple what it brought in in 2009. In May 2011, following a fresh round of funding just south of $500 million, the company was estimated to be worth around $10 billion. It’s likely that its valuation could rise significantly, especially given investors’ red-hot demand for social networking sites and Internet firms, which has sparked talk of a second tech bubble.

By comparison, LinkedIn brought in $243 million in revenue in 2010 and was valued at around $8.45 billion, post-IPO.

The New York Times wrote in January of this year that an IPO by Zynga was “said to be unlikely in 2011.” The Times reported, Zynga “is in no hurry for an initial public offering and unlikely to seek one this year, according to people with knowledge of the company’s plans.”