business

Zynga IPO could raise as much as $1.15 billion

Social-gaming company Zynga is ready to brave the turbulent initial public offering market, and if the IPO goes well, it might just raise over $1 billion.

Zynga reported in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing today that it will price its stock between $8.50 and $10 a share. The company currently plans to sell 100 million shares, but has made 15 million additional shares available for over-allotment. Depending on how well Zynga can attract buyers, the company could raise between $850 million and $1.15 billion in its offering.

"We intend to use the net proceeds to us … Read more

Manage your business with Whistler Small Business Software

Our beef with most so-called business software is that it's often poorly designed, hard to navigate, and of questionable value. If time is money, no one wants to waste time trying to figure out software that makes simple tasks much harder and more frustrating than they need to be. That's why we were pleasantly surprised by Whistler Small Business Software. This program packs an unusual number of essential business tools into an intuitive package that just about anyone can master.

The program started by having us configure our business information, and then a setup wizard walked us through … Read more

Are Zynga employees miserable, ready to bail after IPO?

Zynga has been hit hard lately by reports that say it has been tough on employees. But according to a new story, employees might be preparing to strike back.

Every quarter, Zynga holds a staff survey to find out how employees feel about the company. Last month, the company's CEO Mark Pincus got more than he bargained for from employees after many of them complained of tough working conditions, according to The New York Times yesterday. At least one of the people who responded to the company survey said that as soon as Zynga goes public and they can … Read more

How low can Netflix's stock go? Much lower, analysts say

Netflix investors might be wondering how much lower the stock can go before it levels off. Unfortunately for them, a few analysts think it could get much, much worse.

Yesterday, Netflix shares closed the day at $70.45, the stock's worst closing price this year. At one point during the day, Netflix's shares fell all the way to $69 before turning around.

The sell-off was due mainly to the company's announcement on Monday that it's having a cash flow issue and has been forced to raise $400 million. Half of that has been raised in a … Read more

Surprise! Microsoft quietly opposes SOPA copyright bill

Microsoft has long been one of the most ardent proponents of expanding U.S. copyright law. But that enthusiasm doesn't extend to the new Stop Online Piracy Act, which its lobbyists are quietly working to alter, CNET has learned.

It's little surprise that Web-based companies like Google, Facebook, and Twitter oppose SOPA, which is designed to make allegedly piratical Web sites virtually disappear from the Internet. They, and many civil liberties and human rights groups, worry that SOPA could jeopardize legitimate Web sites too.

But Redmond's skepticism is notable because unlike the Web companies, Microsoft earns nearly all … Read more

Record voice notes after important calls

Ever made plans or laid out action steps while on a business call, and wish you had taken notes? Maybe you were on your Bluetooth headset while driving, or you couldn't find a pen. Or maybe you just plain hate scrawling anything on paper at all.

Enter Tote Notes, a brilliantly conceived app that pops up after voice calls so you can dictate notes before you forget any important details. It not only records voice notes, it e-mails them to you, and even transcribes them to text so you can easily search for them later.

Here's how it … Read more

Spend $25 at a local business, get $25 back from American Express

Big week ahead, fellow cheapskates! And I'm kicking it off with my annual guest appearance on CNET's Holiday Help Desk, which airs live today at 12 p.m. PT/3 p.m. ET. The big topic, of course, is Black Friday, and if you think you know what I'm going to say about it, think again. Hope you'll tune in!

That said, let's table Black Friday for a moment and talk Sweet Saturday. On November 26, American Express is sponsoring an event called Small Business Saturday. The upshot: Spend at least $25 at any … Read more

Rafe recommends: Scan your business cards with CardMunch

Somewhere on or in my desk, I probably have your business card.

Like a lot of people, cards rain into my life constantly. Most get "filed" into small cardboard boxes that used to hold my own business cards. And then they get forgotten.

I have looked at many solutions for capturing the useful data I get from cards: Scanners, databases, and even services like Cloud Contacts, where you send your piles of cards to be scanned and entered into a database. They all take too much work (or money), so I don't stick to any of them. … Read more

LinkedIn to sell more shares to fend off plummeting stock price

Professional networking site LinkedIn is planning to offer more shares to protect its stock price from plummeting in the coming weeks.

According to a filing this week with the Securities and Exchange Commission, LinkedIn and its top shareholders plan to sell 8 million more shares in a secondary offering. The filing said that about 1.3 million of those shares will be sold by LinkedIn, while the remaining LinkedIn 6.7 million shares will be sold by stockholders. The offering is expected to help the company generate $100 million and its shareholders a sizable sum of their own.

But LinkedIn'… Read more

So Zynga, ready to go public?

Doesn't Zynga have enough headaches getting ready for its initial public offering?

The social-gaming company yesterday suffered a distraction from its IPO plans after The Wall Street Journal reported that Zynga CEO Mark Pincus last year demanded unvested stock back from some employees who, he believed, didn't deserve to hold so many shares in the company. If the employees didn't hand over the shares, the Journal reported, they would face termination.

That report cropped up at the worst possible time for Zynga. The social-gaming company is planning to offer its shares after Thanksgiving. Given the state of … Read more