Zynga Poker Revenue Reaches $1.14 Billion in 2011

Originally launched in 2007 as an application for Facebook, Zynga Poker has now revealed that its revenue figures for the whole of 2011 reached an impressive $1.14 billion.
Nevertheless, the fast-growing Internet company which had previously recorded seven continuous quarters of profitability, posted a loss of $435 million in Q4, in spite of a 59% rise in revenue to $311.2 million.
However, the loss was mostly chalked  down to a $510 million tax charge, triggered by Zynga’s initial public offering (IPO) in mid-December, 2011. Then the stock was priced at $10, which subsequently reached a record high of $14.55 this week, before the Q4 financial figures sent the price tumbling 15.3% to $12.16. The company is currently valued at around $8.3 billion.
Despite the market’s reaction, which was expecting a more bullish report, the future potential of Zynga Poker is huge, with the company reporting a 13% increase in daily active users for Q4 to 54 million.
With those numbers, Zynga Poker is unsurprisingly the world’s biggest free-play poker site, with the US company also in talks with  several casino businesses to offer real-money games in the event of online poker legalisation in the States. At present, Zynga games are free with the company then making money from advertising and selling virtual in-game goods. However, a move to legalise online poker in the US would bring the company enormous profit potential
In the meantime, commenting on Zynga overall results for 2011, CEO Mark Pincus said:
“Zynga set new records in the year in terms of audience size, revenues and bookings. We saw great momentum in mobile and advertising and ended the year with a strong pipeline of new games. We are excited about the opportunities in front of us to continue delighting our current players and to bring play to millions of new people.”