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Report: Zynga attracts takeover interest

Developer has received preliminary approaches but no formal talks have taken place, sources claim

Report: Zynga attracts takeover interest

Words With Friends outfit Zynga is a potential acquisition target of other developers, according to a report.

Bloomberg claims “people familiar with the matter” have stated that the company has already received preliminary approaches.

It added however that no formal talks on any purchase have occurred for now.

The rumours have sparked a jump in Zynga’s share price, which closed at $4.36 on Tuesday, up from $3.88 the day prior.

Return to form

While Zynga has struggled in recent years and was hit by regular quarterly losses, under the guidance of CEO Frank Gibeau, formerly of EA, the company recently returned to profitability and appears to be on the up.

Its portfolio includes games such as Words With Friends, NaturalMotion’s CSR Racing 2 and now Gram Games’ Merge Dragons following a $250 million deal.

Other titles in its catalogue include the Farmville series, Zynga Poker, Wizard of Oz Slots, Dawn of Titans and the Merge franchise.

Its deals for Gram Games and NaturalMotion also give it a place in the currently-hot hyper-casual market and access to the latter firm's development tools, on top of its own tech built up over the years.

Zynga is still far away from its heyday in the Facebook gaming boom and its share price is much lower than its $13 peak back in 2012, but with a recent return to form it could prove an attractive purchase for a buyer with the funds.

It’ll still be a large deal though. Zynga currently has a market cap of $3.63 billion.


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Craig Chapple is a freelance analyst, consultant and writer with specialist knowledge of the games industry. He has previously served as Senior Editor at PocketGamer.biz, as well as holding roles at Sensor Tower, Nintendo and Develop.