Zynga to Buy Turkish Mobile-Game Maker Peak for $1.8 Billion

Zynga said on Monday it would buy Turkish mobile-game maker Peak for $1.8 billion (roughly Rs. 13,553 crores), in a move that will boost the company's daily active user base by 60 percent.

Shares of the company rose as much as 5 percent to an eight-year high in morning trading.

San Francisco-based Zynga said it would pay $900 million (roughly Rs. 6,776 crores) in stock and the same amount in cash for the maker of Toon Blast and Toy Blast, making it the largest purchase of a Turkish startup.

Zynga, which has 21 million average daily active users and is known for its agriculture-simulation game FarmVille, has been strengthening its hold on the mobile gaming market through acquisitions and licensing agreements with media outlets to publish themed games of popular franchises.

Mustafa Varank, Turkey's industry and technology minister, said on Twitter that Peak was the country's first unicorn and the acquisition was a "remarkable milestone" for Turkish startup ecosystem.

Separately, Germany-based Earlybird Venture Capital said it will exit a $520 million (roughly Rs. 3,929 crores) stake in Peak as part of the deal and receive a stake in Nasdaq-listed Zynga.

Zynga said it expects to complete the Peak deal in the third quarter. The company also raised its full-year bookings forecast to $1.84 billion (roughly Rs. 13,854 crores) from $1.80 billion (roughly Rs. 13,553 crores), which excludes any contribution from the Peak deal.

© Thomson Reuters 2020

Is Realme TV the best TV under Rs. 15,000 in India? We discussed this on Orbital, our weekly technology podcast, which you can subscribe to via Apple Podcasts or RSS, download the episode, or just hit the play button below.