Advertisement

Report: Zynga filing for IPO in the next two weeks

Alright, we're gonna get all of the boring business stuff out of the way up front: FarmVille creator Zynga is reportedly "poised to file" for its IPO (Initial Public Offering), effectively going from a private company to a public one. Financial firm Goldman Sachs is said to be "among the lead bankers" heading up the offering, which is expected as early as this week or "next week at the latest." Still with us? We know -- that was just as exhausting for us as it was for you.

So why should you care? Because the company could rival -- or handily best -- publishing contemporaries like Activision, EA, and Take-Two. The social game publisher's last valuation pegged it at a cool $10 billion, a number All Things D's Kara Swisher believes could climb even higher for an IPO. For comparison's sake, the largest public game publisher, Activision Blizzard, is valued at $13.07 billion as of mid-day today ... and that includes the Call of Duty series and World of Warcraft.

With a $10 billion IPO, Zynga would become the second largest game publisher in North America, eclipsing EA's current valuation of $7.81 billion. Zynga reps declined to comment.