News

The crown jewels: Candy Crush's King looking to cash-in with IPO

Hires banks to pursue initial offering in the US

The crown jewels: Candy Crush's King looking to cash-in with IPO
Candy Crush Saga developer King is in the process of hiring banks to facilitate an initial public offering (IPO) in the US in the months ahead.

That's according to the Wall St. Journal, which reports King is in conversation with J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Credit Suisse Group and the Bank of America regarding the IPO, with exact pricing and timing of any deal as of yet undecided.

'Opportunities'

King has so far refused to confirm or deny any talk of an IPO, with a spokesperson for the company telling the paper that the firm's success "presents numerous opportunities for the business to develop further, and one option would be to take the company public."

"However, while it's an option for the future, we would not comment on when we could consider making such a decision," he concluded.

Nevertheless, at a time when King is arguably top dog in mobile's casual scene, now would appear to be exactly the right moment to instigate an IPO, capitalising on Candy Crush Saga's broad appeal.

If instigated, King would be the first major mobile outfit since Zynga to go to market, with shares in the latter having performed poorly in the 18 months since its IPO.

Bubble

As things stand, Zynga's share price has fallen by 70 percent since the firm's stock debut in December 2011, with investors lacking confidence in the company's ability to deliver the next big thing.

King will be wary of finding encased in a similar bubble, with IPOs typically putting even secure businesses under a new level of scrutiny.

Nevertheless, any King IPO would come at a time when mobile outfits can – in GungHo Entertainment's case, at least – find their market capitalisation regularly surpassing that of industry behemoths such as Nintendo and EA on the back of just one game.

King has also seen fit to pull in-app advertising from its games in order to rely solely on revenue generated from microtransactions, further illustrating the current health of the developer's business.

[source: Wall Street Journal]

With a fine eye for detail, Keith Andrew is fuelled by strong coffee, Kylie Minogue and the shapely curve of a san serif font.