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Zynga snaps up 'Draw Something' maker OMGPOP for $200M


Social network game maker Zynga has snapped up OMGPOP, maker of the popular "Draw Something" app, for a reported $200 million.
 
News site IBN Live cited a Reuters report that said this was one of Zynga's biggest acquisitions as it moves to expand its lineup of games on mobile devices and Facebook.
 
But Zynga, which raised $1 billion in an initial public offering last December, declined to comment on the deal's financials, the report said.
 
OMGPOP makes the game "Draw Something" where players make digital sketches of items or pop culture figures such as Lady Gaga, then compete to guess what the drawings are.
 
In the last six weeks since "Draw Something" went on the market, it got more than 35 million downloads and risen to the top of the app charts on Apple and Android in 84 countries.
 
Zynga is behind popular games on tablets and smartphones such as "Words with Friends" and "Scramble with Friends."
 
The report said the $200-million deal is the second-biggest purchase since 2010 when it bought Newtoy Inc, the publisher of "Words With Friends" for $53.3 million.
 
Under the deal, OMGPOP's 40 employees will join Zynga and the company's headquarters will remain in New York.
 
But the report quoted Hudson Square analyst Dan Ernst as saying that while Zynga could easily afford the deal, it is always a risk acquiring a company that has only produced one well-known game in recent months.
 
"The big risk is how long do they last? But it seems like a high quality team though and doesn't feel like a one-hit wonder," Ernst said. — TJD, GMA News
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