Zynga Bosses Bailed Out Before Crash

Karloff

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Zynga Bosses Bailed Out Before Crash



Well-timed stock divestment made Zynga insiders a killing.

In a sudden reversal of fortune [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/118723-Zynga-Share-Price-Crashes], Zynga's stock has gone from $12 per share to a $3 per share. However not everyone came out of this catastrophe unhappy. Several important shareholders - among them Zynga's CEO, CFO, COO and General Counsel - walked away with millions while ordinary shareholders lost their shirts.

Zynga General Counsel Reginald Davis was the one who got the least, at $3.8 million. That pales in comparison to CEO Mark Pincus' $200 million for his 16.5 million share holding. Other Zynga insiders - Google, SilverLake Partners, Reid Hoffman the PayPal guru who later joined Zynga's board of directors - sold at the same time the Zynga board did, which raises the unpleasant possibility of insider trading.

At least one market analyst, Richard Greenfield of BTIG, regrets recommending Zynga as a buy to his customers. "Right now," Greenfield said, "everything is going wrong for Zynga. In a rapidly changing Internet landscape that is moving to mobile, it's very hard to have confidence these issues are temporary."

Zynga has blamed Facebook, a duff edition of Mafia Wars 2, softening repeat customer numbers and a mistimed purchase of Draw Something owner OMGPOP for its current financial troubles. It's worth noting that the senior staff still hold Zynga stock, so it's not as if they've lost nothing by Zynga's stock price drop. That said, $200 million is a pretty comfortable cushion in times of financial strife.

Source: Gamasutra [http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/zynga-insiders-cashed-just-stock-crashed-144334658.html]


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Fappy

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Hopefully this will be a wake up call for them to stop milking the masses and start putting out quality games. I'd hate to see more people lose their jobs in this economy.
 

Clearing the Eye

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Something of a capitalist success and failure story. Wonder what the ending will read like.

Facebook is ever so slowly declining, too. 'Cause it totally wasn't going to be another Myspace, right? Lol.
 

Pipotchi

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Jesus Christ! What kind of half arsed analyst was recommending Zynga as a buy? It's been obvious for months that their share price was unsustainable. I've been shorting their stock on a small scale for a couple of weeks now and I don't claim to be an expert in the markets

Here's hoping it was hedge funds that lost out big rather than individual savers
 

Zachery Gaskins

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Mar 29, 2011
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$200 million made from a business failure?

It's obvious these people experience reality on a completely different wavelength from everyone else. Ask me what I'd do with ONE million.
 

cynicalsaint1

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Hurray for golden parachutes I suppose.

Here's hoping they can get smacked down for insider trading here ...
 
Mar 7, 2012
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Nintendo stock crashes: Boss cuts his paycheck in half and works to regain customer trust.

Zynga stock crashes: Boss bails and takes millions with it.
 

GAunderrated

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Anyone who plays with stocks that doesn't have the "inside trade" that majority of these CFO and counsel members have are idiots because many explosions are really just bubbles waiting to burst (mysp...er facebook is next).


step 1: buy tons of stock in a growing company for cheap

step 2: watch to see if said company explodes, if not repeat step 1

step 3: one said company explodes, watch to see when the bubble is getting the biggest

step 4: sell stock and make millions before the bubble bursts

step 5: make millions while majority of other people become broke as balls
 

Clearing the Eye

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DVS BSTrD said:
Well it wasn't until Zuckerberg decided to open at $34 a share, cause that's a buying price right? I thought he was good with numbers.
Overestimate your worth, much? Lol.
 

Sis

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Zachery Gaskins said:
$200 million made from a business failure? It's obvious these people experience reality on a completely different wavelength from everyone else. Ask me what I'd do with ONE million.
Their shares were worth 12 bucks. But, they saw which way the wind was blowing and sold 90% of their stock when it was still that high. When the stocks worth dropped to 3 bucks, they got away clean with a lot of money.

with that said: Bungholes, the lot of them.
 

doublenix

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Jul 16, 2009
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I'm sure that Zynga's problems have nothing to do with the douche in charge.

And to anyone who thought that Zynga could have been a good investment at all, please pass whatever you are smoking. That must be some really trippy stuff.
 

doublenix

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GAunderrated said:
Anyone who plays with stocks that doesn't have the "inside trade" that majority of these CFO and counsel members have are idiots because many explosions are really just bubbles waiting to burst (mysp...er facebook is next).


step 1: buy tons of stock in a growing company for cheap

step 2: watch to see if said company explodes, if not repeat step 1

step 3: one said company explodes, watch to see when the bubble is getting the biggest

step 4: sell stock and make millions before the bubble bursts

step 5: make millions while majority of other people become broke as balls
I prefer this:

1. See something that people get overly hyped about.
2. Short the crap out of it or get some put action.
3. Get some calls for insurance.
4. Clock bank.
5. Throw some "I told you so"'s for good measure.
 

Covarr

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cursedseishi said:
Possible insider trading? Pleeeeaaaaaaaase! We know there was insider trading. We know that Mr. Pincus will do any and all sorts of con-artistry just to make a quick buck, seeing as he gladly admits its.

I swear, isn't this a little illegal? It has to be, considering it was just "perfect" timing for all the bigwigs to drop shares for a premium before the prices of it dipped to an all-time low.
Yeah. I'm no lawyer, but I'm like 95% sure this is illegal insider trading here. But with the bigwigs gone, I actually have hope that the company can somehow survive this and transform into an honest company no longer under the watchful eye of their scumbag overlord. I'm tired of boycotting Words with Friends.

P.S. Thanks
 

GAunderrated

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Covarr said:
cursedseishi said:
Possible insider trading? Pleeeeaaaaaaaase! We know there was insider trading. We know that Mr. Pincus will do any and all sorts of con-artistry just to make a quick buck, seeing as he gladly admits its.

I swear, isn't this a little illegal? It has to be, considering it was just "perfect" timing for all the bigwigs to drop shares for a premium before the prices of it dipped to an all-time low.
Yeah. I'm no lawyer, but I'm like 95% sure this is illegal insider trading here. But with the bigwigs gone, I actually have hope that the company can somehow survive this and transform into an honest company no longer under the watchful eye of their scumbag overlord. I'm tired of boycotting Words with Friends.

P.S. Thanks
Yeah "illegal" only applies until you are worth a certain amount. The investors who shorted the financial bubble did so illegally and yet not a single one of them have seen jail time. A bit of a strawman I did there but my point is that these guys know how to play the game so well they are bragging about how they illegally shorted people by inside trading.
 

MammothBlade

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Oct 12, 2011
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I despise Zynga and everything they stand for, but I'm not glad of this news. Zynga's greedy executives are going to be laughing all the way to the bank as there are mass layoffs for their employees.

Fappy said:
Hopefully this will be a wake up call for them to stop milking the masses and start putting out quality games. I'd hate to see more people lose their jobs in this economy.
Zynga doesn't have it in their work culture, they are only "creative" in ripping off other companies' ideas. No, heck they're not even creative. All they do is add -ville to whatever it is they copy and then put it into a slick marketing machine.
 

Fappy

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MammothBlade said:
I despise Zynga and everything they stand for, but I'm not glad of this news. Zynga's greedy executives are going to be laughing all the way to the bank as there are mass layoffs for their employees.

Fappy said:
Hopefully this will be a wake up call for them to stop milking the masses and start putting out quality games. I'd hate to see more people lose their jobs in this economy.
Zynga doesn't have it in their work culture, they are only "creative" in ripping off other companies' ideas. No, heck they're not even creative. All they do is add -ville to whatever it is they copy and then put it into a slick marketing machine.
I'm just being hopelessly optimistic. As unrealistic as it would be, wouldn't you rather them shift their focus on making good and unique games rather than flounder?