Given EA CEO John Riccitiello has spent much of his time in the wake of the firm's acquisition of PopCap explaining the studio was hot property, the suggestion the publishing giant wasn't the only party bidding for the house that Bejeweled built is no great surprise.

An unnamed source claiming to have been 'close to the deal' says social gaming star Zynga was one of two rival PopCap bidders, and was prepared to pay just short of $1 billion for the business.

In reply, however, PopCap shunned the move to take up EA's offer, deeming it 'potentially more lucrative'.

A tale of two billions

Though $1.35 billion is the headline figure quoted in reference to the buyout, EA's offer for PopCap was actually far more complex than that.

The publisher has paid out an initial $650 million in cash for the studio, as well as an additional $100 million in EA stock.

The rest comes down to earnout, structured over a two year period and accounted by "certain non-GAAP earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) performance milestones through December 2013."

In short, to take the figure up to $1.35 billion, PopCap will need to generate more than $343 million EBIT in this period.

No contest

In contrast, Zynga is reported to have been looking to finance the deal with a line of credit from Goldman Sachs – one of the lead bankers behind Zynga's recent initial public offering (IPO).

Said source also claims Chinese internet portal service Tencent – named as a potential suitor when news of a PopCap buyout first came to light – had also offered an initial bid for the firm, but the final fight was squarely between EA and Zynga.

[source: Forbes]