Troubled social gaming giant Zynga saw shares drop by 14 per cent after it shelved plans to enter the online gaming market in the US.
Shares in the San Francisco-based Zynga fell to $3.01 last week, having recovered from $2.81 before trading closed on Thursday.
The drop had followed a period of steady growth in value amid optimism about the plans for online betting in the US and as the company announced a move to offer real-money gambling on Facebook in Spain and Italy, in partnership with bwin.party.
“While the company continues to evaluate its real-money gaming products in the UK test [of real-money gaming on Facebook], Zynga is making a focused choice not to pursue a licence for real-money gaming in the US,” the company said in a statement.
Don Mattrick, the former Microsoft executive who replaced Mark Pincus as Zynga CEO earlier this month, is already under pressure but said that the company expects “two-to-four quarters” of “volatility” as he continues to evaluate the business and initiate a shift in direction.
“We are missing out on the platform growth that Apple, Google and Facebook are seeing,” said Mattrick.
“We have the ability to break some bad habits and get back to some good fundamentals.”
