Baidu rejects "false" statement it plans to buy Zynga

Zynga shares jumped 4 percent in heavy premarket trading after the press release, on website www.prurgent.com, said Baidu would offer $10 per share for the company.

Zynga shares eased back to $3.24, up 1.5 percent, in morning trade on the Nasdaq.

Baidu's director of international communications, Kaiser Kuo, said the statement was false. Zynga was not available for comment.

The statement appeared to have been removed from the PR*Urgent website by mid-morning.

Zynga shares peaked at $15.91 early last year on the strength of its "Farmville" hit game, but struggled after its games lost their prominence on the Facebook social networking site.

Zynga is scheduled to report first-quarter results on Wednesday and Baidu on Thursday.

© Thomson Reuters 2013