financial

Zynga's $1B IPO takes shape, values company at $7B

Social-gaming pioneer Zynga priced its initial public offering at the top of its range--$10 a share--setting the stage for its market debut tomorrow as the next major technology IPO.

The $10 price means Zynga could raise up to $1.15 billion, depending on whether it also offers over-allotted shares, and values the company at roughly $7 billion. That gives Zynga a larger initial market capitalization than videogame giant Electronic Arts, currently valued at $6.9 billion. (Zynga's lead over EA, however, is a narrow one--and definitely not the $2 billion advantage reported elsewhere.)

Zynga announced plans to go public in July. … Read more

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

Netflix is 'broken' with no fix in sight, analyst says

Netflix has endured an exceedingly difficult year. But things will only get worse in the coming months, says Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter.

Writing to investors in a research note today, Pachter said that Netflix "is broken," and its decision earlier this year to raise prices on customers who want to both rent DVDs and stream video content proved to be the catalyst that brought those flaws to light.

"It is clear that a price increase was necessary, and equally clear in hindsight that a 60 percent increase on the hybrid customer was too much," Pachter wrote … Read more

Groupon shares fall off a cliff, down 42 percent since IPO

When Groupon went public earlier this month at $20 per share, the daily-deals provider saw its stock soar. But now, Groupon has become a losing proposition for its shareholders.

The company's shares yesterday dropped 9.01 percent, or $1.51, to settle at $15.24. That's despite the fact that Nasdaq was up 3.5 percent yesterday.

Since Groupon went public, the company's stock has declined 41.63 percent, and by the look of things, the drop could continue until shareholders start to see some positive financial news come out of the company.

The issue is, Groupon … 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

Apple gives most of its top execs $60M bonuses

It's bonus season at Apple.

A flurry of new filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission show Apple's top executives getting bonuses with big payouts that hinge on them staying with the company through the end of 2016.

The company on Wednesday doled out 150,000 shares each to most of its senior vice presidents, short of recently-minted SVP Eddy Cue, who received a slightly smaller 100,000-share bonus, and design guru Jonathan Ive, who is an SVP, but does not fall under the SEC's section for directors, officers, and principal stockholders. That works out to just … Read more

HP shares up after nixing PC spin-off plan

Hewlett-Packard's stock is trading up today, following the company's decision yesterday to keep its PC business, known internally as the Personal Systems Group, in-house.

"HP objectively evaluated the strategic, financial and operational impact of spinning off Personal Systems Group," HP CEO Meg Whitman said in a statement yesterday announcing her company's decision. "It's clear after our analysis that keeping PSG within HP is right for customers and partners, right for shareholders, and right for employees."

As of this writing, HP's shares are trading up 3.2 percent to $27.85. It'… Read more

Nintendo loses $1.3B in six months, report says

The last six months may have been much worse for Nintendo than the company has previously admitted. According to Japan's Nihon Keizai Shimbun--as related by Reuters, Nintendo will show a fiscal first-half loss of 100 billion yen ($1.3 billion) when it announces its earnings tomorrow.

Earlier this year, the company said it expected to post a loss of 55 billion yen during the six-month period ended September 30. If the Nikkei report is accurate, it would mean that the company has somehow managed to lose almost $1 billion in the past three months alone.

In April, the game … Read more

Will Facebook profits double Amazon's this year?

Will Facebook be more profitable than Amazon this year? TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington thinks so.

Arrington, writing on his new blog, Uncrunched, cited a source who said that Facebook generated $1.6 billion in revenue during the first half of 2011 and an operating income of $800 million. Assuming that same profit margin carries through the year, Arrington says, Facebook could tally an operating income of $2 billion this year.

It gets better, Arrington says. During the first half of the year, Arrington points out that Amazon posted an operating income figure of $523 million, which Facebook easily overshadowed. And … Read more

Groupon's new IPO target: $540 million (or more, maybe)

Daily-deals provider Groupon could raise as much as $540 million when it goes public, the company revealed today in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

According to the filing, Groupon plans to offer 30 million shares of Class A common stock for between $16 and $18 apiece. If it goes public at $18, it could raise the $540 million. Also, if the company sells through its 30 million shares, it can opt to sell another 4.5 million shares to increase the amount it raises to a maximum of $621 million.

Groupon's new filing stands in stark contrast … Read more