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Casual gaming firm Zynga will buy Turkish mobile game developer Peak for $1.8 billion in a cash-and-share deal, the firm announced Monday.
The deal brings Peak's 100-strong team plus two successful puzzle games, "Toon Blast" and "Toy Blast," to Zynga's roster. Zynga stated in its announcement that the two game franchises have consistently ranked in the top 10 or 20 grossing games on the App Store over the past two years.
Zynga stated that the deal comprised $900 million in cash, and $900 million in Zynga stock, with the acquisition expected to close in the third quarter of 2020. The company said the acquisition will boost its margins and round out its games offering.
The deal comes as Zynga experiences a financial boost thanks to the coronavirus pandemic. The company said it had experienced its best first-quarter earnings in its history at the end of March, reporting that revenue was up 52% year on year to $404 million. The firm raised its full-year 2020 guidance to $1.7 billion in revenue. The company's stock price has also climbed, hitting a 2020 high of $9.15 at close on Friday.
Zynga expects the acquisition to bolster its average mobile daily active users by more than 60%, with Peak's two games collectively averaging 12 million daily users.
Frank Gibeau, chief executive of Zynga, said in a statement: "Peak is one of the world's best puzzle game makers and we could not be more excited to add such creative and passionate talent to our company."
Peak CEO Sidar Sachin said in a statement: "This is a monumental partnership not only for Zynga and Peak, but for the whole mobile gaming industry."
"Both companies share a common vision — to bring people together through games. Peak's culture is rooted in relentless learning and progress, so as we embark on this new chapter in our journey together with Zynga, we remain as committed as ever to our unique culture. We're very excited for our combined future and what we will accomplish together," added Sachin.
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Shona Ghosh was the Deputy Executive Editor at Business Insider's UK bureau.In 2019, she was awarded Tech Journalist of the Year at the UK Tech Awards. She was previously Technology Editor at UK advertising trade publication Campaign.She appears regularly on the BBC, LBC, and Sky News.If you want to get in touch, she's at shonaghosh@protonmail.com, or you can message her at @shonaghosh on Twitter if you want her phone number to talk about something confidentially.Expertise:Technology, the major tech platforms, technology regulation, privacy, venture capital, startups.Popular original reporting:Inside the disruptive rise of $2 billion Babylon Health, which sources say is considering a multibillion-dollar SPAC in 2021Iconiq Capital, the US investment firm backed by Silicon Valley elites like Mark Zuckerberg, is expanding to EuropeThe 100-hour weeks, intense culture, and divisive hires that made Deliveroo a $2 billion business with backing from AmazonWeWork cofounder Adam Neumann personally invested $30 million in a startup and loaned money to its CEO. Then the CEO got fired over alleged gross misconduct.Bullying allegations, $1,000 pens, and a celebrity chef: Inside the collapse of Faraday Grid, the '$6.5 billion' energy startup backed by Adam NeumannA 'nonsense' valuation of $1 billion, a failed sale to Snap, and an investor fight: Inside Blippar's dramatic collapseWe ran 2 fake ads pretending to be Cambridge Analytica — and Facebook failed to catch that they were fraudsPeeing in trash cans, constant surveillance, and asthma attacks on the job: Amazon workers tell us their warehouse horror stories
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