The complete history of Zynga (so far) in handy e-book form

To mark Zynga‘s stock-market debut, we’re releasing a 63-page e-book on the history of the company.

In just five years, social-gaming company Zynga has gone from scrappy, sometimes-shady underdog, to multi-billion dollar company. On Friday, Zynga capped of the first leg of its journey and started another when it went public on the Nasdaq.

VentureBeat’s lead games writer Dean Takahashi has followed the company from its beginnings as Presidio Media in 2007, through lawsuits, hit … Continue Reading

Zynga said to eye post-Thanksgiving IPO window

Zynga may float its initial public offering after the Nov. 24 Thanksgiving holiday, according to two sources close to the matter who spoke with Bloomberg.

The social game maker, responsible for titles such as Farmville and Empires & Allies, filed its S-1 on July 1, and many expected the company to list itself on the NASDAQ exchange by this time. Zynga is hoping to raise $1 billion in its IPO.

A representative from Zynga told … Continue Reading

Zynga IPO mints a new multi-billionaire: Mark Pincus

Zynga founder Mark Pincus (pictured far left) will benefit the most from his company’s planned initial public offering, according to Zynga’s SEC filing.

The company, the creator of massively popular social games like Farmville and CityVille, has yet to specify the price and number of shares for the offering. But the prospectus contains enough information on Pincus’ ownership stake for us to do back-of-the-envelope math on his pending worth, as well as that of other … Continue Reading

Zynga brings back offers to its online game payment methods

After shutting down offers on its social games because of accusations of scam ads, social game firm Zynga is bringing them back under tighter controls.

Mark Pincus, chief executive of the largest social game company, said in a blog post that the company is taking a baby step to bringing back offers, which are a special kind of ad where a user signs up for a service in lieu of paying for a digital good … Continue Reading

Electronic Arts buys Playfish for as much as $400 million

After shutting down offers on its social games because of accusations of scam ads, social game firm Zynga is bringing them back under tighter controls.

Mark Pincus, chief executive of the largest social game company, said in a blog post that the company is taking a baby step to bringing back offers, which are a special kind of ad where a user signs up for a service in lieu of paying for a digital good … Continue Reading