San Francisco-based mobile games-making something something unprofitable Zynga has one trick left up its sleeve: the sleeve itself, which the company now plans to sell.
As Bay Area real estate blog The Registry recalls, the 2007-founded enterprise paid $228 million for its dual addresses at 650 Townsend and 699 8th Street in 2012 — a price that translates to roughly $340 per square foot. Now it could sell that home, one anchor of San Francisco's so-called Design District, for something along the lines of $800 per square foot. Not bad!
Zynga rose to prominence with offerings like Farmville, Words With Friends, and Draw Something, taking the company public in 2011. But fame turned to infamy with early layoffs that began in 2013. These days, as Fortune wrote recently, the company's fourth quarter 2015 earnings were pretty dismal, and Zynga attempted to assuage investor concern with the idea that it would monetize its San Francisco headquarters either through a sale or long-term lease. That's happening.
As one analyst for Wedbush Securities, Michael Pachter, put it to Forbes: “Zynga has been a ‘show me’ story for so long, many investors have stopped paying attention.” Some are still patient, however, as ad revenue prices grow generally and the company releases a few new "Hail Mary" games.
This isn't the first big Zynga-related real estate sale, mind you. In 2014, Forbes wrote that company founder Mark Pincus was putting his $18 million Pacific Heights mansion on the market. Yep, despite the few faithful, it looks to many like the real estate game might be the only one left for the once promising game maker (Zyng!). One more: Is it finally time for Zynga to bet the farm over Farmville?
OK, I'm done.
Previously: Zynga Lays Off 500+ Employees, Some Of Whom Learn Via Facebook