Zynga Ammends IPO Filing

It's not exactly surprising, but an amendment to Zynga's IPO filing has offered details of how tied the company is to Facebook and Google GOOG. In its initial filing, Zynga disclosed among its risk factors that it is almost entirely dependent on Facebook for its revenue. That will surely surprise no one. Where else do people go to play Farmville and the like? In its new 600-page amended filing, Zynga show the challenges they face in moving to other platforms. It is a challenge too; no other social media platform has the same amount of users as Facebook, and social media sites really are the most appropriate platforms tor Zynga games. In fact, Facebook holds exclusive rights to distribute some of Zynga's most-popular games such as "FarmVille" and "Mafia Wars." The filing also confirms for the first time that Google is among Facebook's many investors, though it's tough to imagine people going to Google to play games. The recent launch of Google+ will likely provide a more suitable platform for Zynga and its games and, should Google+ prove as successful as Google obviously hopes, that will only be good news for Zynga. When the IPO was originally filed at the beginning of July, the Social Networking Stocks Index soared 3 percent. Even LinkedIn soared 5 percent. Zynga is looking to raise $1.5 billion to $2 billion, and get a $15-$20 billion valuation. Morgan Stanley, which managed recent social media offerings from both Renren and LinkedIn, is reported to be leading as underwriter for this deal as well. Goldman Sachs and Bank of America could also participate. Earlier this year, Zynga was valued at $10 billion, so it'll be interesting to see how things play out.