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Looks Like Zynga Just Bought OMGPOP For $200 Million

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Re: Looks Like Zynga Just Bought OMGPOP For $200 Million

#51

Post by matdwyer »

natesm wrote: post #34
matdwyer wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's actually surprisingly fun. My girlfriend spends like 10 minutes drawing these elaborate pictures for strangers. The only thing that infuriates me is when people know what it is but can't spell the word and then give up.

I get annoyed when the "hard" word ends up being some rapper/celebrity name instead of something that everyone knows.

I've seen some hilarious Lil' Wayne & Tebow drawings though! Much more fun to me, but you're right, this is a world wide game.

Re: Looks Like Zynga Just Bought OMGPOP For $200 Million

#53

Post by abuzzooz »

wilfra wrote: post #46
jedc wrote: post #30

That rivals the Heroku for the biggest YC exit so far! (Heroku was ~$212million) OMGPOP would slot in at #2. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AkkhSN3vaY4jdF9... This likely means YC gets about $3-5million out of the deal, funding even more startups in the future. :) (edit: Originally wrote Flightcaster for some reason; meant Heroku. Was thinking of Flightcaster earlier today and got confused.)

So many great companies and so many early exits. Great for the VC's and angels - bad for the founders and early employees. And the users. Imagine if Heroku, reddit and others had stayed independent. Facebook got this part right. Reject buyout offers and use them to raise capital at ever increasing obscene valuations - and build your product exactly as you want.

There are always two sides for each story. You hear about a lot of successful companies that rejected a buyout, only to die in obscurity. I guess it all depends on the shareholders and what they want to do. Sometimes it's good to take home a good chunk of profit and look elsewhere.

Re: Looks Like Zynga Just Bought OMGPOP For $200 Million

#54

Post by mdonahoe »

wilfra wrote: post #37

"it has recently been netting around $250,000 a day from the game — that’s after Apple takes its 30 percent cut." $7.5 million a month at the very beginning of their hockey stick growth, and they are willing to sell for $200 million? Deal of the century for Zynga... They should have leveraged this into a massive funding round and started making acquisitions, growing etc. Nobody is ever going to compete with Zynga if…

"Nobody is ever going to compete with Zynga if people cash out to them the first chance they get every time."

NimbleBit (TinyTower guys) rejected a Zynga acquisition offer. I hope that most game companies hate Zynga too much to allow themselves to be acquired by them.

I guessing that OMGPOP's investors pushed heavily toward this solution after years of little traction.

Re: Looks Like Zynga Just Bought OMGPOP For $200 Million

#55

Post by wilfra »

pclark wrote: post #41
wilfra wrote: post #37

"it has recently been netting around $250,000 a day from the game — that’s after Apple takes its 30 percent cut." $7.5 million a month at the very beginning of their hockey stick growth, and they are willing to sell for $200 million? Deal of the century for Zynga... They should have leveraged this into a massive funding round and started making acquisitions, growing etc. Nobody is ever going to compete with Zynga if…

A cowardly decision? Do you have any idea how stressful it is running a team of 30 employees and tens of millions of dollars in financing and not having a clear path to turn it into a successful company? OMGPOP made great video games for 5 years and none of them stuck. They deserve recognition for sticking to their vision and eventually finding one that is a hit, I can totally imagine why the team wants to sell and n…

"They deserve recognition for sticking to their vision and eventually finding one that is a hit"

They absolutely do. But they are now the latest example of what not to do the second you finally gain traction. As I said in another comment, Facebook got this right. So many others do not, and it is really a pity in the social gaming space as there is a huge need for somebody to compete with Zynga.

Re: Looks Like Zynga Just Bought OMGPOP For $200 Million

#57

Post by lusr »

matdwyer wrote: post #17
omi wrote: post #12

Who the hell plays this garbage?

It's actually surprisingly fun. My girlfriend spends like 10 minutes drawing these elaborate pictures for strangers. The only thing that infuriates me is when people know what it is but can't spell the word and then give up.

I've never played this (first time I've heard of it), but it sounds like a game I used to play about 5 years ago online with people on IRC/Kongregate chat. I used to love it and spend hours playing it. Boy do I feel dumb now not remembering it when the mobile app craze started!

Re: Looks Like Zynga Just Bought OMGPOP For $200 Million

#58

Post by [deleted] »

wilfra wrote: post #37

"it has recently been netting around $250,000 a day from the game — that’s after Apple takes its 30 percent cut." $7.5 million a month at the very beginning of their hockey stick growth, and they are willing to sell for $200 million? Deal of the century for Zynga... They should have leveraged this into a massive funding round and started making acquisitions, growing etc. Nobody is ever going to compete with Zynga if…

[deleted]

Re: Looks Like Zynga Just Bought OMGPOP For $200 Million

#59

Post by Jach »

wilfra wrote: post #37

"it has recently been netting around $250,000 a day from the game — that’s after Apple takes its 30 percent cut." $7.5 million a month at the very beginning of their hockey stick growth, and they are willing to sell for $200 million? Deal of the century for Zynga... They should have leveraged this into a massive funding round and started making acquisitions, growing etc. Nobody is ever going to compete with Zynga if…

Some people have the belief "I'm going to work real hard for X years and try to make enough so that I don't have to work at all if I don't want to for the rest of my life." I don't know if this is what the CEO thinks, but if it is, I don't think it's cowardly.

Re: Looks Like Zynga Just Bought OMGPOP For $200 Million

#60

Post by potatolicious »

wilfra wrote: post #37

"it has recently been netting around $250,000 a day from the game — that’s after Apple takes its 30 percent cut." $7.5 million a month at the very beginning of their hockey stick growth, and they are willing to sell for $200 million? Deal of the century for Zynga... They should have leveraged this into a massive funding round and started making acquisitions, growing etc. Nobody is ever going to compete with Zynga if…

> "Deal of the century for Zynga and a horrible, cowardly business decision for them to sell."

You realize that OMGPOP is founded and staffed by real human beings, who are probably reading these threads today, right?

I can respect the opinion that selling to Zynga was the wrong call - but your tone and wording is entirely inappropriate.

If the founder and employees of the company were sitting across the table from you, would you still call them cowards?

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