SAN FRANCISCO – Dec. 16, 2009 – Zynga, the largest social game provider, today announced that Digital Sky Technologies (DST), a leading global internet investment group, along with other investors, has agreed to purchase approximately $180 million of the company’s securities. A portion of the investment will be used to fuel Zynga’s growth and the rest will be used to facilitate liquidity for employees and investors.

DST comprises the majority of the new investment, followed by Andreessen Horowitz and Tiger Global as new investors in Zynga, and Institutional Ventures Partners, a current investor who has added to its position in the company. Zynga’s other major investors include Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Union Square Ventures, Foundry Group and Avalon Ventures. As a passive investor, DST will not hold a seat or have observer rights on Zynga’s board of directors.

“Social games are enabling millions of people around the world to connect and play together everyday. We are excited about our relationship with DST as they are a global player dedicated to creating services that are meaningful to consumers in the long term,” said Mark Pincus, founder and CEO of Zynga. “The investment from DST allows us to continue delivering on the promise of social games for consumers, making fun the biggest way for people to interact.”

“We share in Zynga’s mission of connecting people through games and believe they are in a solid position with their team, offerings and market share to succeed in a dramatic way,” said Yuri Milner, chief executive of DST. “Our earlier investment in Facebook and now in Zynga underscores our premise that social networking and social entertainment will define the next generation of the web.”

Zynga today has over 230 million monthly active users playing its games. These include FarmVille, Café World, Zynga Poker, Mafia Wars, YoVille, FishVille and the recently announced PetVille, which is currently the fastest growing social game online. More than one million users purchase virtual goods across Zynga games, from tractors to home decorations, accounting for 90 percent of the company’s revenue. In addition, FarmVille players recently raised over $700,000 for the welfare of children in Haiti by purchasing virtual goods in the game.

Company Launches FarmVille.com
One Million Users Purchase Virtual Goods Monthly

SAN FRANCISCO – Nov. 23, 2009 – Zynga (www.zynga.com), the largest developer of social games, today announced that more than 100 million unique users play its games every month, making it the largest online game destination. The company has 200 million monthly active users across all games, with one million users purchasing virtual goods per month.

Zynga’s newest games, Café World and FishVille, have contributed to the company’s growth. Café World, launched in September, has surpassed 9 million daily active users, while FishVille has crossed 6 million daily active users since its launch earlier this month. Zynga’s popular game FarmVille is the largest social game with over 65 million virtual farmers, 26 million of which play the game every day. These farmers recently contributed more than $700,000 for the welfare of children in Haiti.

The company also launched FarmVille.com a new web site that uses Facebook Connect integration to bring the popular game to a standalone portal. The new site enhances the game play experience for current FarmVille players who can tend to their same Facebook farms and introduces new players to the most popular social game online.

FarmVille players add to their farms by gaining game points and purchasing virtual goods. Every month, more than one million users purchase virtual goods in Zynga’s games, from tractors and pets to café decorations and lobster tanks. Direct user purchases account for approximately 90 percent of Zynga’s revenues.

“Our games continue to delight and connect players as they immerse themselves in their worlds of farming, fishing or running a restaurant,” said Mark Pincus, CEO and founder of Zynga. “With the popularity of virtual goods today, we are in the early stages of a new economy that could grow and shape the future of the Web.”

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The check for over $580,000 was just received in Haiti yesterday and I wanted to show you what a huge difference the FarmVille farmers will make to this community. Below are pictures of the kitchen where NO food has been offered for a long, long time, and the money that you helped raised through the FarmVille Sweet Seeds campaign, will go towards the restoration of this kitchen and making sure there’s food for everyone. In fact, the ovens will be paid for tomorrow!

Thanks to Laura Hartman who is on site and helping Zynga accomplish our goals with Zynga.org, we’re able to actually see how your Sweet Seeds donations are helping the greater good. We’re on track for meals to be served to the kids in this community in January.

Our second campaign is running right now, where you can purchase more Sweet Seeds–Sweet Corn, in fact.

Thanks to everyone for making this happen! The Sweet kids of Haiti are so thankful!

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Abbey Klaassen over at AdAge wrote about Zynga today, as one of America’s hottest brands. I couldn’t be more thrilled with this accolade so congrats to Zynga! We’ve come a long way since our launch in January 2007.

You can read about it here. Good stuff!

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Had to share. I got an email from Maria, one of our very passionate FarmVille players. Maria was celebrating Lily’s birthday and to her, it only made sense to create the ultimate FarmVille cake for her and all her friends (see pics below).

What’s also great about this group of FarmVille farmers/friends, is that they live in different places around the world. Maria is from Bahrain, Lily is from Greece, and the rest of their friends are from the U.S., Canada, Germany, Philippines, New Zealand and Oman. Now if that doesn’t show you how Zynga is is truly connecting the world through games, I don’t know what would.

Happy Birthday Lily and thanks to Maria for sharing. Love it!

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