ONLINE GAMES CREATOR ZYNGA FILES FOR $1 BILLION IPO

Zynga, the popular gaming company behind hits such as Farmville — and the owner of other smash titles such as Words with Friends on Android and iPhone — has filed for an initial public offering (IPO), The New York Times reported on Friday. It currently has a $20 billion valuation and has plans to offer 10% of its shares; Morgan Stanley will work on the deal. Mark Pincus, the company’s CEO, expects that Zynga can earn $1 billion through the IPO.

Unlike some other recent tech IPOs, which have caused many to claim the industry is in the midst of a “tech bubble,” Zynga has had solid earnings through its business model, which typically relies on in-app purchases for in-game currency. The firm reportedly recorded a profit of $90.6 million in 2011 on revenues of nearly $600 million.

Zynga currently remains the top-dog when it comes to gaming on Facebook — it has 272.5 million active users across its biggest titles such as Cityville and Farmville.

ZYNGA ACQUIRES NEWTOY

Zynga on Thursday announced that is has acquired Texas-based Newtoy, which produces titles for the "Games With Friends" franchise.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Newtoy will now be known as The Zynga With Friends Studio. Newtoy chief executive and co-founder Paul Bettner will serve as the studio's vice president and general manager, while his brother and co-founder David Bettner will be studio director. Michael Chow will be director of operations.

David Ko, senior vice president of mobile at Zynga, said Zynga was attracted to Newtoy because of its position in the mobile space. "Social gaming on the PC is an important part of many peoples' lives and it has become increasingly clear the mobile is the next great frontier," Ko said during a call with reporters.

"We believe the [Newtoy] franchise is the best social game experience available on mobile today," Ko said.

The goal, he said, is to have Zynga games available to anyone, anywhere, and on any device. To that end, Newtoy will not change dramatically. "We're not looking to alter any of the success we've seen with [Newtoy], but looking to extend it," Ko said.

Zynga, of course, is the maker of the popular Farmville; last month it also announced plans for a new game, CityVille. In the last five months, Ko said Farmville on the iPhone has been downloaded over 7 million times, and overall, Zynga has more than 10 million people accessing Zynga games on a mobile device.

Newtoy's Paul Bettner said there was an "intense cultural alignment" between Zynga and his company. "We've already begun collaborating and our teams have hit the ground running," he said.

"Throughout this process, both the Newtoy and Zynga teams utilized a secret codename of sorts for the operation, 'Jetpack.' Why this name, and not something else – like code 007? Because to us, this acquisition represents the potential to 'strap jetpacks to our backs' and move faster towards our shared goal of connecting the world through games," Bettner wrote in a blog post. "And that's what we're going to do!"

Newtoy is just the latest in a string of acqusitions for Zynga this year. Since February, the company has also acquired gaming companies Serious Business, XPD Media, Challenge Games, Conduit Labs, Unoh, and Bonfire Studios. [PC Mag]