Zynga, the troubled maker of social games, announced its third-quarter earnings today.
As expected, it reported a loss of 7 cents per share, confirmed layoffs of 150 employees, and unveiled a stock-buyback plan of up to $200 million.
Investors liked the news, sending shares up 14 percent in after-hours trading.
These results have been ones to watch, coming after a dramatic preannouncement where the company cut its forecast for the year, Zynga began layoffs of 5 percent of its workforce, and after Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the social network's revenue from Zynga dropped 20 percent in the third quarter in his own call with analysts yesterday.
The only bright spot: FarmVille 2, the sequel to the title that catapulted Zynga to the top of the gaming world, is a surprise breakout hit.
Here are the numbers:
- 7 cents loss per share, with adjusted earnings per share at breakeven
- Net loss of $52.7 million, including an impairment charge of $95.5 million for OMGPOP, the maker of Draw Something
- Revenue of $316.6 million for the quarter
- Cutting 150 jobs
- Buying back $200 million in shares
- Launching real-money gaming in the UK in the first half of 2013
- Monthly unique payers—players who spend money on games—dropped from 4.1 million in the second quarter to 3.0 million in the third quarter, with most of that loss coming from Draw Something
- FarmVille 2 is a financial success as well as a hit with players, with 500,000 paying for in-game extras
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