Skip to content

Technology & Innovation — December 16, 2011

Is Zynga’s IPO the End of the Tech Bubble?

Throughout the day, Zynga has been trading at or bellow its initial stock offering. While Zynga will still cash in, is its proportional success a sign that the tech bubble is shrinking?

bigthinkeditors

What’s the Latest Development?

The social media game maker Zynga became a public company today, making an initial public offering of $10 per share. But while morning trading raised expectations, shares have since slumped to below the initial $10 value. Some analysts blame Zynga’s dependence on Facebook for revenue (95% of its revenue comes from Facebook). Others take a broader view, saying that the technology bubble is deflating and that, in the midst of the economic crisis, companies are being valued more conservatively.

What’s the Big Idea?

Zynga’s business model of making games for people to play for free was once a laughable idea. During an earlier fundraising round, Zynga’s CEO Mark Pincus approached the popular gaming company Electronic Arts with his idea. At the time, EA was comfortable with its model of making a game that people bought at the store and manually inserted into their game consul home. Pincus did not secure funding from EA but still became a success. Now, EA is working hard to catch up with Zynga.

Photo credit: shutterstock.com

Related

a computer generated image of a human brain.

The great free will debate featuring Michio Kaku and Steven Pinker

Who — or what — really controls your mind?

Building destroyed by the Halifax Explosion. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

The largest accidental explosion of all time

More than a century ago, Halifax suffered an accidental blast one-fifth the size of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

a collage of photos of a man with a hat and a book.

6 great books with wildly unreliable narrators

Dive into the twisted truths and concealed realities told by literature’s most unreliable narrators.

a group of five matches on a pink background.

Signs you’re burned out — and how to bounce back

If you don’t feel better after the weekend, the “burnout paradox” could explain why.

▸

7 min

—

with

jwst Abell 2744 450 million

Starts With A Bang

The trick to instantly identifying JWST images

If you can identify a foreground star, the spike patterns are a dead giveaway as to whether it’s a JWST image or any other observatory.

Up Next

Politics & Current Affairs

Occupy Wall Street: A Giant Human Hashtag

Since, at its heart, Occupy Wall Street is a conversation about values that is leading to direct action — a beta test for a better society — people should not despair that it is a “leaderless movement.”