Forget the Black Friday rush, give the gift of Zynga stock [Report]

The ever-shifting Zynga initial public offering has changed its projected date once again, according to a Bloomberg report. Now, the FarmVille maker is looking past Thanksgiving for its $1 billion IPO, two anonymous sources said. Just two weeks ago, it was reported that the company would go public before Thanksgiving through the Nasdaq under the symbol "ZNGA."

Since Zynga filed to go public earlier this July, the company has repeatedly altered its filing in response to demands by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Most recently, it was revealed that 6.7 million Zynga gamers pay up for in-game goods, which is up from 5.1 million in the previous year. And while revenue doubled to $829.9 million, profits continue to drop another 54 percent in the third financial quarter year-over-year.

Granted, that can be chalked up to increased costs in research and development. (Come one, did you see the litany of games released and announced this year alone?) Should the IPO go through this year, it could very well set Zynga ahead of traditional gaming companies like EA--now a direct competitor with The Sims Social--and perhaps even the mighty Activision Blizzard.

With that kind of pressure, we can kind of see why the big red dog is taking its sweet time. Nothing says "Merry Christmas" like some potentially valuable stock, huh? And here you wanted an iPad. (Alright, we'll admit it: An iPad is way cooler.)

Zynga profits plummet 90 percent, raises questions about imminent IPO

Will the big show still go on? That's what many wonder, as Zynga just revealed in an updated regulatory filing that its profits dipped by 90 percent in the June quarter, thanks to increased spending and a lack of major game releases earlier this year, Reuters reports. According to the news service, this raises questions as to whether the company can sustain growth ahead of its long-awaited IPO (initial public offering).

Zynga's net income took a nose dive to $1.4 million from $14 million a year earlier, and its net profit plummeted over 90 percent in three months from $16.8 million in March of this year. Reuters chalks this up to the fact that the filing shows that the FarmVille maker's expenses rose $149 million compared to a year earlier, and $59 million alone from the previous financial quarter.

We'd imagine a major chunk of those expenses are thanks to the 14 companies Zynga gobbled up in the past year. It's also worth noting that the developer didn't really release any major Facebook games in 2011 prior to Empires & Allies. (And no, we're not counting FarmVille English Countryside.) Since then, however, the company has been on a frenzy, launching three more Facebook games this summer: Words With Friends, Pioneer Trail and recently Adventure World.

This news speaks volumes to the fact that Zynga has reached a point where it constantly needs to produce in order to sustain its meteoric growth, and more importantly for them right now, the faith of investors. Since the company's last filing, Zynga conducted a third-party analysis that estimated the probability of an IPO at 75 percent. This is down from the 80 percent probability reported in Zynga's previous filing.

In other words, it looks like the anticipated Zynga IPO could be delayed, just as previous reports suggested, to wait for improved market conditions. However, EA is gaining on the company with The Sims Social, and fast. According to AppData, EA and Playfish's game has just about 1.6 million fewer daily players than CityVille's 12.9 million.

Do you think Zynga has anything to worry about, given the news? Would you ever invest in Zynga if given the chance? Sound off in the comments. 1 Comment