mark pincus

Zynga's Mark Pincus deemed year's 4th worst CEO

Given the annus horribilis which was Zynga's 2012, it's understandable if Zynga's Mark Pincus can't wait until 2013 rolls around. Meanwhile, the hits just keep on coming -- the latest indignity being an annual list of the business world's lousiest CEOs where Pincus was rated the fourth worst corporate leader. No. 1 was Brian Dunn, who resigned in April from Best Buy, followed by Chesapeake Energy's Aubrey McClendon, and Avon's former boss Andrea Jung, who left her post in April.

The list, which began three years ago, was put out by Sydney Finkelstein, … Read more

Zynga's outlook doesn't look pretty -- can Pincus save it?

Zynga has been in a downward spiral the past several months. It's been hit from all sides, from plummeting share prices to Anonymous cyberattacks to a mass exodus of its top employees.

Despite CEO Mark Pincus' public positive attitude and go-getter mentality about the future of the gaming company, an article by the Wall Street Journal today reports that he may be less enthusiastic behind the scenes. According to interviews with dozens of current and former Zynga employees and investors, Pincus is apparently grappling with how to save the company.

During a September meeting between Pincus and business coach … Read more

Zynga CEO takes blame for poor quarter

Give Mark Pincus credit not trying to weasel out when it came to explaining why Zynga posted a lousy third quarter. Instead of blaming an uncertain economy, wandering consumer tastes, or a weird alignment between Jupiter and Mars, the CEO's message to Wall Street was clear: Blame us.

Of course, he was preaching to the converted. Investors have been blaming Zynga for most of the year, driving down the stock to an all-time low today before the company reported a $52.7 million loss during its September quarter.

But as he discussed the results with analysts on a conference … Read more

Zynga earnings disappoint, stock tanks

Last updated: 2:40 PM PT

Zynga's second-quarter financial results came in far below analysts' expectations, and the stock nose-dived more than 40 percent in early after hours trading.

The social-gaming company, which raised $1 billion in its December 2011 IPO, reported revenue of $332 million for the quarter ending June 30, up 19 percent year-over-year. The company reported a net loss of more than $22.8 million, a loss of 3 cents per share. For its prior quarter, Zynga reported $321 million in revenue and recorded a net loss of $85.4 million, primarily owing to stock-based … Read more

Zynga CEO: Facebook, Zynga wanted to break up in 2010

Zynga co-founder and CEO Mark Pincus just revealed something about his company's relationship with Facebook that may come as a shock to many. Zynga and Facebook were considering a break up back in 2010.

That should surprise you because the companies are very, very close partners. When Facebook was getting ready to go public, it disclosed that 12 percent of the social networking giant's 2011 revenue came from Zynga. More recently, in Q1 2012, that number was 15 percent (down from 19 percent in Q1 2011), including both payments revenue and advertising displayed alongside Zynga games. Oh, and … Read more

Zynga CEO: Mobile is disruptive, but it's the future

SAN FRANCISCO -- Mobile is disruptive, but the most obvious disruptions can be the best opportunities -- at least for online social gaming, according to Zynga founder and CEO Mark Pincus.

During the morning keynote fireside chat at MobileBeat 2012 on Tuesday, Pincus explained his vision of the future of mobile games to GamesBeat lead writer Dean Takahashi.

Essentially, Pincus argued that the industry needs to be more interconnected and there need to be more open channels so that many more games can be discovered -- not just the ones that for whatever reason can get into the Top 10. … Read more

Zynga's quest for 'player liquidity'

Mark Pincus has spent nearly a decade gambling on social networking. His bets have clearly paid off. With Zynga, which he founded in 2007, Pincus rode Facebook's social network to bring social gaming to the masses. Zynga's first game was, appropriately, Texas hold 'em poker. The company went public in December 2011, making Pincus a billionaire. Prior to Zynga, Pincus co-founded tribe.net, a "friend" network that faded unevenly into history as Facebook began its rise to social-network dominance.

He was also an investor in Friendster, an early social network focused on dating, and along with … Read more

Dear Zynga, Markpincus.com is expired

We all know that controlling your brand is crucial, especially in big business. You can't afford to let someone else get ahold of your name, and in the Internet era, that means keeping your Web site locked down, far from anyone else's reach.

So it was quite a surprise to me when I found out today, via the Twitter feed of the great game designer Brenda Brathwaite, that Zyngo CEO Mark Pincus could be in real danger of losing Markpincus.com.

According to a Whois search, the URL expired on February 9. And while registrars usually give domain … Read more

SEC repeatedly pressed Zynga for revenue details

This isn't the sort of news investors like to see from a newly public company.

The SEC today disclosed six emails it exchanged with Zynga in which the government prodded the social-game maker for specifics about its financials before letting it go public.

Zynga, the maker of FarmVille and CitiVille, raised $1 billion when it went public in December, becoming the biggest Internet IPO since Google.

A key concern for the SEC was just how many people were paying to play Zynga games and how Zynga was accounting for that revenue.

In a letter dated October 7, SEC special counsel Maryse Mills-Apenteng … Read more