Friday, December 16, 2011

Zynga IPO Rewards SoCal Investors

Despite a cool reception for the IPO of social games maker Zynga Friday, the IPO of the company still rewards a couple of Southern California investors. Among the biggest winners of the IPO of Zynga is San Diego-based Avalon Ventures, which owned 32,169,401 shares of Zynga before the IPO, a stake which was worth $321M based on Zynga's opening price this morning. Zynga looks to be among the most visible exits from that firm's portfolio yet. Dreamworks' Jeffrey Katzenberg also looks to have benefited from the IPO, having owned 388,410 shares of the firm's Class B stock prior to the IPO. Any ultimate value of those investors' shares depend on Zynga's value after lockup--typically six months--and on how they decide to manage their post-IPO stakes. Zynga priced at $10.00 per share Thursday evening, at the high end of an estimated range of $8.50 to $10.00; the firm was trading slightly down near close of market, and had ranged from $9.00 to $11.00 per share in trading Friday.

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