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Candy Crush Saga maker considers going public. Good idea?

Candy Crush Saga, the popular mobile game, could launch its King.com toward an IPO. But as Zynga can attest, the risks are plenty. 

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King.com
A screenshot from Candy Crush Saga. New research found that .15 percent of mobile gamers contribute to 50 percent of all in-app purchases.
  • By Matthew Shaer

King.com, the software developer behind the hit game Candy Crush Saga, is preparing for an initial public offering, according to a new article in Bloomberg BusinessWeek. 

Bloomberg reports that King, a multinational company with offices in Europe and the US, is working with JPMorgan Chase & Co., Credit Suisse Group, and Bank of America on the IPO, the timing and size of which has not yet been decided.

The banks declined to comment to Bloomberg, but in a statement to the Wall Street Journal, a spokesman for King acknowledged that the company was mulling the possibility.

"King’s success and growth presents numerous opportunities for the business to develop further, and one option would be to take the company public," the spokesman said. "However, while it’s an option for the future, we would not comment on when we could consider making such a decision."

Candy Crush Saga works a lot like the popular tile-matching game Bejeweled. Players slot candies – including jelly beans, lozenges, and lemon drops – into rows, and rack up points accordingly. As of last month, Candy Crush Saga was reportedly the most popular online game in the world, with approximately 15 million users playing at least once a day. 

Still, the risks for King – also known as Midasplayer.com Ltd. – and investors are sizable. Zynga, the online gaming giant that went public in 2011, with an amazing amount of fanfare and amid a lot of high expectations, recently laid off 520 people, or 18 percent of its workforce. 

"None of us ever expected to face a day like today, especially when so much of our culture has been about growth," Zynga CEO Mark Pincus said in a message to employees at the time. "But I think we all know this is necessary to move forward." 

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