Did Alec Baldwin help Zynga's IPO?
The actor's onboard kerfuffle has turned attention to the game company's 'Words With Friends.'
Baldwin was reportedly so into the Zynga game "Words With Friends" that he refused to turn it off as the plane prepared to leave. The actor took the phone into the lavatory, reports say, slamming the door so hard it alarmed the pilots in the cockpit.
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"This is phenomenal for Zynga," Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter told Bloomberg. "The problem for Zynga with investors has been that the average portfolio manager doesn't relate to their games. This definitely helps change their perception."
Another analyst told the New York Daily News that the Baldwin brouhaha won't affect Zynga's financial fundamentals. "However, we all know that celebrities are influencers, and people who haven't tried a Zynga game might be more inclined to do so now," Baird's Colin Sebastian added.
That seems to be the case. The News reported that daily users playing "Words with Friends" has jumped by 300,000 to 5.5 million, according to AppData.
Zynga seized the opportunity to talk up the incident on Twitter, telling American not to ground Baldwin for playing. "A.B.S.U.R.D. is worth *at least* 11 points in @WordsWFriends," the company said on Twitter.
Baldwin, by the way, has apologized for the incident.
Zynga hopes to raise as much as $1 billion in its IPO, which is set for next week. Any chance Baldwin is involved in the IPO?
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