Zynga ready to float

FarmVille creator and Facebook gaming behemoth Zynga is close to floating on the stock market.

The US-based developer is reportedly setting up an Initial Public Offering this week worth as much as $2bn in shares. That’s the equivalent of around ten per cent of the business, which has been valued at between $15bn and $20bn, reports CNBC.

The IPO will apparently be led by finance companies Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs, as well as Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Barclays.

Venture capital investor in Zynga and Netscape founder Marc Andreessen told FT.com: Zynga is an absolute phenomenon. Mark Pincus [Zynga CEO] has an unbelievable vision for the next 10 to 20 years.

He is on a mission to build the biggest and best game company ever built.”

It’s not the first time there’s been talk of Zynga going public. Rumours of floatation surfaced last August.

Investors have estimated that Zynga generated revenues of $850m last year.