Zynga's third-quarter revenue beats Street view, shares up 16 percent

By Malathi Nayak | Reuters 

 

Reuters/Reuters - The corporate logo of Zynga Inc, the social network game development company, is shown at its headquarters in San Francisco, California April 26, 2012. REUTERS/Robert Galbraith

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Zynga Inc's shares climbed 16 percent on Thursday after the maker of the online game "FarmVille" reported third-quarter revenue that dropped 68 percent but beat Wall Street's expectations.

For the quarter ended Sept 30, the company's Non-GAAP revenue fell to $152.1 million (93.8 million pounds) from $256 million for the same period a year ago, but surpassed analysts' average estimate of $142.7 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Zynga shares were up at $4.10 in after-hours trading after closing at $3.535 on the Nasdaq on Thursday.

The company behind once-popular social games such as "Words with Friends" reported a loss of $16.2 million compared to $361,000 for the same period last year.

The game publisher, which once experienced rapid revenue growth from popular PC-based games such as FarmVille on Facebook, has sought to regain its financial footing by transitioning to smartphones and tablet titles, the increasingly preferred format for casual gamers.