The former star of the browser game industry has gambled back in the front row at the latest in the worldwide lockdown and the associated game boom.
(Photo: AP)
Dusseldorf The publisher of the bestselling video game “Grand Theft Auto”, Take Two Interactive, is taking over the game provider Zynga. In the deal, the makers of browser games such as the “Farmville” series are valued at more than twelve billion dollars, the US company announced on Monday. That is significantly more than after the IPO in 2011, when the market value was around nine billion dollars at the end of the year.
The outstanding Zynga stock would be purchased for $ 9.86 per paper. This corresponds to an increase of more than 64 percent compared to the last closing price. Before the trading day, the Zynga shares on Wall Street rose more than 40 percent to $ 8.89. The takeover should be completed by the end of June. Zynga itself mainly earns money with sales within its games: The game titles themselves are free for users, additional content or game resources can be purchased.
After the hype phase surrounding the IPO, the game provider, which worked closely with Facebook, slipped into a sales crisis in the mid-2010s. The company was accused of missing out on making the move to mobile devices and saying goodbye to the Flash platform.
In 2020 the company reported sales of $ 1.97 billion with an operating loss of approximately $ 370 million. According to its own information, the games of the company from San Francisco have around 134 million players per month. The global lockdown and the search for pastime have resulted in significantly more user growth among mobile game providers.
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This also benefited Zynga, which now has more than 2,200 employees again after previous waves of layoffs. In addition, the software manufacturer is speculating on participating in the boom surrounding the metaverse project of the social media pioneer due to the close cooperation with Facebook in the past.
Take Two, in turn, is listed in the S&P 500, making it one of the economically strongest US listed companies. The group sells a large part of the games developed in studios belonging to the company and has been growing steadily for some time through acquisitions. The purchase amount is paid in cash and shares. In addition to the “GTA” series, the basketball simulation “NBA2K” is one of Take Two’s most valuable brands.
With material from Reuters
More: Zynga is also investing – How tech giants are growing in Turkey