zynga

Facebook, Twitter stock trading drawing SEC eye?

The high degree of investor interest in shares of hot Silicon Valley companies that aren't yet publicly traded--like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Zynga--may be leading to scrutiny from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, according to a report late Monday on The New York Times' Dealbook blog.

Companies like SharesPost and SecondMarket offer exchanges for privately traded stock, and there's been no shortage of supply thanks to early employees and investors of companies like Facebook and Twitter who are looking to take some cash off the table. Much of the interest in the exchanges has been … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 1362: New alien DNA discovery: new Toxic Avengers? (podcast)

On today's show, NASA's announcement about training bacteria to exist on arsenic is super cool, and could lead to a great remake of "Toxic Avengers," but it's certainly not the little green men announcement we were hoping for. Plus, why the FTC's "Do Not Track" system is doomed to fail, we launch an angry Angry Birds take-down petition, and Donald "Downer" Bell buzzkills the entire show. --Molly

Buzz Out Loud 1355: We're Gowalla-ing to Disneyland! (podcast)

On today's show, Gowalla teams up with Disney to offer virtual pins, instead of the real ones everyone actually wants. And we discover Molly's never been to Disneyland, so maybe Gowalla should sponsor a road trip! Also, Google eyes Groupon, Cox becomes the first cable company to get into the mobile phone game, and carriers threaten to stop subsidizing iPhones if Apple tries to free the phone from carrier confines. --Molly

Virtual goods revenue to hit $7.3 billion this year

Between 2007 and 2010, virtual goods revenue increased 245 percent, according to a study released today from market-research firm In-Stat.

According to the company, consumers will purchase $7.3 billion worth of virtual goods in 2010, up from the $2.1 billion they spent in 2007. The company's statistics include revenue generated from social-networking titles like Zynga's FarmVille, and casual games both online and on mobile phones.

In-Stat found that 70 percent of the revenue generated from virtual goods originated from consumers in Asia and Pacific countries, while the remaining 30 percent of the cash was generated from … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 1337: It's one thing to sniff the cookie...

It's our long-awaited Nerd Show (i.e., episode 1337), and in my opinion, we rose to the occasion admirably. Our show covers everything from the iPhone security secret sequence to how to become a lazy hacker. Plus, WiFi Direct certification, a ghostly white iPhone sighting, and PAT vs. NAT. Again. -- m011yW00t

Is Zynga worth more than Electronic Arts?

FarmVille creator and upstart Zynga could be worth more than the more established Electronic Arts.

According to a valuation on SharesPost, which analyzes the value of private companies, Zynga is currently worth about $5.51 billion. As of this writing, EA's market capitalization stands at $5.2 billion.

Admittedly, valuations on SharesPost are not an exact science. The firm says that it calculates a company's value based on "recent transaction prices, current posts, research estimates, and recent last round venture financial valuations." But considering that the companies it analyzes are private, there is no way to … Read more

Facebook investor Mail.ru announces IPO pricing

Russia-based Mail.ru Group, a company that has invested in both Facebook and social-gaming company Zynga, has announced per-share pricing for its initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange.

According to the company, it plans to offer its shares for $23.70 to $27.70. At that price, Mail.ru will have an equity value between $4.86 billion to $5.71 billion after its shares are issued.

Proceeds from its IPO will be used to fund its acquisition of an additional 7.5 percent of Russian social network vKontakte for $112.5 million.

Mail.ru's portfolio of … Read more

FarmVille makes its way to the iPad

FarmVille is now available to iPad customers, Zynga announced today.

Would-be farmers can get their hands on FarmVille by downloading it for free from Apple's App Store. Those who have been playing the game elsewhere can now continue to seed the fields and run tractors over their farms on Apple's tablet. Users who are new to the game can start a whole new farm within the app. Push notifications will be used to alert farmers to the health of their crops, Zynga said.

After FarmVille became popular on Facebook and quickly started annoying friends of players who were … Read more

VC firm Kleiner Perkins launches social-app fund

Facebook, Amazon, and Silicon Valley bank Allen & Co. are among the high-profile investors in sFund, a $250 million social-application fund launched by venture capital stalwarts Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers today. Kleiner Perkins partner John Doerr spearheaded the announcement, which was held at Facebook's headquarters in Palo Alto, Calif.

"We're in a third wave of incredible and disruptive innovation," Doerr said of the current climate of digital development, which he sees following in the footsteps of the initial rise of PCs and then the Internet and browser revolution in the 1990s. These new entrepreneurs are &… Read more

Buzz Out Loud 1333: Introducing the Ginsu Air (podcast)

Apple finally (round about the end of our show) gets around to its "one more thing": a knife-edge MacBook Air that inexplicably lacks anything resembling a modern processor. Plus, Mac OS X goes all iOS on us. Meanwhile, the Galaxy Tab gets a price tag that doesn't disappoint (shocker!) and Facebook deals with even more unintended consequences: painful personal memories. --Molly