Zynga posts $209m in losses as revenues climb

Revenues are up by 12 per cent at Zynga to $1.28 billion for the year, but that still hasn’t stopped the bleeding of cash reserves.

The company went public a year ago, with stocks climbing to $15.61 a share before crashing to a low of $2.09 in the wake of the disasterous Facebook IPO.

The once proud Goliath has proved quite vulnerable to changes in the weather, and is having to renegotiate its strategy to account for the mobile boom.

But the worst seems to have passed, and an uptick in daily active users from 54 to 56 million and monthly active users climbing to 298 million from 240 million during the fourth quarter is good news for the company.

Revenues for the three month period were flat year-on-year at $311 million, with a loss of $48.6 million.

Annual losses are reported at $209 million, nearly half that of last year.

"Our team executed well in the fourth quarter and made important progress in building sustainable new revenue streams and further aligning our company around our best growth opportunities," said Zynga chief operations officer David Ko. 

"2013 will be a pivotal transition year and we are focused on achieving three strategic objectives: growing our franchises on mobile and web, expanding our network and maintaining profitability on an adjusted EBITDA basis. With 298 million monthly average users, including 72 million on mobile alone, Zynga already has the largest social gaming audience and remains the best positioned company to lead in building the future of social gaming."

The company expects revenues to drop next quarter to between $255m and $265m, with losses estimated to come between $12m and $32m.