SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Zynga Inc. priced its initial public offering at $10 per share on Thursday afternoon — the high end of the expected range for the deal, signaling strong investor demand for the maker of social games. 
 
 Reuters Zynga CEO Mark Pincus introduced new games at the company’s San Francisco headquarters on Oct. 11. 
 
 Zynga ZNGA, +10.45% will begin trading on the Nasdaq on Friday morning under the ticker symbol ZNGA. 
 
 Late Thursday, the company priced 100 million shares at $10 per share. It had previously filed papers with the Securities and Exchange Commission to sell its shares at a range of $8.50-$10 apiece. 
 
 Zynga is the latest in a series of high-profile Internet IPOs this year that has included social network LinkedIn Corp. LNKD, +1.19% and online daily deals site Groupon Inc. GRPN, +1.67% Social networking giant Facebook Inc. is expected to debut next year, though some rumors have indicated that the company could make its initial filing within the next few weeks. 
 
 Scott Sweet of IPO Boutique said his clients were surprised with the Zynga pricing, given that past deals in the Internet and social networking space priced above their filed range. 
 
 “We were expecting above-range pricing. Certainly this deal had more demand than Jive Software,” Sweet said, referring to a provider of social networking software that debuted earlier this week after pricing its IPO at $12 — above its expected range of $8-$10. 
 
 Sweet added, however, that Zynga took “a sensible approach” in not trying to get too much money too soon — leaving the door open for a possible secondary offering down the road. He said he was “very pleased” with the pricing. 
 
 Underwriters for Zynga have been granted an additional 15 million shares to cover over-allotments. Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs are the lead underwriters on the deal, which also includes participation from B. of A. Merrill Lynch, Barclays, J.P. Morgan and Allen & Co. 
 
 The company expects to have about 699.4 million total shares outstanding following the debut, which includes Class B and C shares that won’t be offered to the public. 
 
 Speakeasy's top video game picks (2:50) Speakeasy games contributor Adam Najberg joins digits to discuss his favorite videogames of 2011. His top pick isn't "Call of Duty." 
 
 The IPO price of $10 per share gives the company a total market value of just under $7 billion. Previous valuation targets leaked to media outlets had the number around $10 billion. 
 
 That puts Zynga above many traditional game publishers, and in line with Electronic Arts ERTS , which has a current market cap just under $7 billion. Activision Blizzard ATVI, +1.05% remains the largest company in the videogame space, with a market cap around $13.5 billion. 
 
 Zynga makes games played primarily over Facebook. Popular titles have included “CityVille,” “FarmVille” and “Mafia Wars.” The company has about 227 million average monthly users who play the games for free, with a small portion who purchase items through micro-transactions within the games that makes up the bulk of the company’s revenue. 
 
 For the nine months ended Sept. 30, Zynga claimed total revenue of $828.9 million — more than double the $401.7 million in revenue from the same period last year. Net income for the recent period was $30.7 million, down from $47.6 million in the comparable period thanks to a sharp rise in marketing and R&D expenses. 
 
 Zynga plans to use the proceeds from the offering for general corporate purposes and possibly acquisitions. About $83.6 million will go toward satisfying tax-withholding obligations related to the vesting of restricted stock units. ||||| An investor holds prospectus explaining the Facebook stock after attending a show for Facebook Inc's initial public offering at the Four Season's Hotel in Boston, Massachusetts May 8, 2012. 
 
 NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO Facebook Inc increased the price range on its initial public offering an average of 14 percent to raise more than $12 billion, giving the world's No. 1 social network a valuation potentially exceeding $100 billion. 
 
 The company, founded eight years ago by Mark Zuckerberg in a Harvard dorm room, raised the target range to between $34 and $38 per share in response to strong demand, from $28 to $35, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday. 
 
 That would value Facebook at roughly $93 billion to $104 billion, rivaling the market capitalization of Internet powerhouses such as Amazon.com Inc, and exceeding that of Hewlett-Packard Co and Dell Inc combined. 
 
 Facebook also extended the time frame for its $1 billion acquisition of mobile app maker Instagram, projecting that the deal would close in 2012 instead of closing in the second quarter as it had previously indicated. 
 
 Facebook provided no reason for the change, though a source familiar with the matter told Reuters last week that the U.S. Federal Trade Commission has reached out to Google Inc and Twitter as part of the agency's standard review for deals of that size. 
 
 The price increase indicates intense market demand, which means Facebook's shares are likely to see a big pop on their first day of trading on the Nasdaq on Friday, analysts said. 
 
 "It's confounding but the evidence is that if companies raise the range, they will pop more," said Josef Schuster, founder of Chicago-based financial services firm IPOX Schuster LLC. "It signals that there is such a strong demand that it will create a momentum for other investors who want to jump on." 
 
 Facebook said in its latest filing that it arrived at the higher IPO price range after one week of marketing the offering - part of a cross-country "road show" in which CEO Zuckerberg has occasionally taken the stage to lay out his vision for the company's money-making potential and its top priorities. 
 
 The Facebook range hike, coupled with strong results from Internet and social media players Groupon Inc and China's RenRen Inc overnight, contributed to a dotcom rally on Wall Street on Tuesday. 
 
 Shares of Pandora Media Inc were up 6.9 percent at $10.50 in afternoon trading, while Zynga Inc was up 8.3 percent at $8.61. Groupon was up 13.7 percent at $13.33, while Renren gained 9.5 percent to $6.01. Yelp Inc stock was up 7.5 pct at $21.55. 
 
 In the biggest-ever IPO to emerge from Silicon Valley, Facebook will raise $12.1 billion based on the midpoint price of $36 and the 337.4 million shares on offer, or 12.3 percent of the company. 
 
 At this midpoint, Facebook would be valued at roughly 27 times its 2011 annual revenue, or 99 times earnings. When Google went public in 2004 at a valuation of $23 billion, it was valued at 16 times trailing revenue and 218 times earnings. Apple Inc, meanwhile, went public in 1980 at a valuation of 25 times revenue and 102 times earnings. 
 
 Wall Street had expected Facebook to increase its price range, with investors eager to get a slice of a strong consumer brand. The IPO road show began last week and has drawn crowds of investors from coast to coast. 
 
 Facebook plans to close the books on its IPO later on Tuesday, two days ahead of schedule, a source familiar with the deal told Reuters on Monday. It is scheduled to price its shares on Thursday and begin trading on the Nasdaq on Friday. 
 
 The IPO is already "well-oversubscribed," which is why the company will close its books earlier than expected, the source said. 
 
 Facebook's capital-raising target far outstrips other big Internet IPOs. Google raised just shy of $2 billion in 2004, while last year Groupon tapped investors for $700 million and Zynga raked in $1 billion. 
 
 The IPO comes amid concerns from some investors that Facebook has not yet figured out a way to make money from an increasing number of users who access the social network on mobile devices such as smartphones. Revenue growth from Facebook's online advertising business has also slowed in recent months. 
 
 Company executives met with prospective investors in Chicago on Monday and were slated to travel to Kansas City, Missouri, and Denver, before returning to Facebook's Menlo Park, California, headquarters. 
 
 A host of Wall Street banks are underwriting Facebook's offering, with Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs serving as leads. Facebook will trade on the Nasdaq under the symbol "FB." 
 
 (Reporting By Olivia Oran in New York and Alexei Oreskovic in San Francisco, additional reporting by Tanya Agrawal; Editing by Maureen Bavdek and Matthew Lewis) ||||| WSJ corporate deputy bureau chief Spencer Ante analyzes Facebook's IPO filing. AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File 
 
 Facebook Inc. filed for an initial public offering Wednesday that could value the social network between $75 billion and $100 billion, putting the company on track for one of the biggest U.S. stock-market debuts of all time. 
 
 The company hopes to raise as much as $10 billion when it begins selling shares this spring, said people familiar with the matter. Potential buyers got their first look at its financials Wednesday, which showed the company produced a $1 billion profit last year from $3.71 billion in revenues. The company derives 85% of those revenues from advertising, with the rest from social gaming and other fees. 
 
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 In just eight years, Facebook has become the world's social bazaar, where friends gossip, play games and swap 250 million photos per day. It has also emerged as a potent political tool, helping to topple regimes across the Middle East last year. 
 
 Among the surprises in Facebook's S-1 Filing were 2011 revenues, which at $3.7 billion, came shy of what analysts expected. Still, Facebook is on track to be valued between $75 and $100 billion. Geoff Fowler talks through the details with Stacey Delo. 
 
 But for all its success, the question remains just how Facebook will manage its growth into a mature, global business, keeping both advertisers and subscribers happy while balancing demands of privacy and profits. The filing left a few clues that Facebook's founder, 27-year-old Mark Zuckerberg, is worried about how wealth and public scrutiny may change the company's culture. 
 
 At Facebook's offices, employees went about business as usual Wednesday, said one person, enjoying a lunch of lobster bisque, braised beef, Moroccan couscous and apple, cream and honey galette for dessert, said another. A stack of giveaway posters left in a kitchenette at Facebook headquarters read "Stay Focused & Keep Shipping," according to a photo shared by Facebook employees. Mr. Zuckerberg shared a photo on Facebook of the flier on his desk. 
 
 Looming a few months away is Facebook's giant offering, which would top rival Google Inc.'s 2004 IPO. It holds the record for the largest U.S. Internet IPO by raising $1.9 billion at a valuation of $23 billion. Among U.S. companies, only Visa Inc., General Motors Co. and AT&T Wireless have held larger offerings than $10 billion. In the filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Facebook said it is seeking to raise $5 billion, but that figure is a placeholder and will likely grow. 
 
 While Facebook is growing fast—revenue grew 88% from a year earlier—the sales figures it released were lighter than some had expected. One widely cited outside estimate from research firm eMarketer pegged Facebook's revenue for 2011 at $4.27 billion. 
 
 Still, Facebook's membership growth has been staggering. The company said in its filing that it has 845 million users globally, up 39% from a year earlier. 
 
 The IPO is set to unleash a wave of wealth across Silicon Valley and yield potentially $100 million or more in fees for Wall Street banks managing the offering, including Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. 
 
 The company chose "FB" as its ticker symbol but hasn't decided whether it will trade on the New York Stock Exchange or Nasdaq Stock Market. 
 
 Mr. Zuckerberg had been famously reluctant to push forward with an IPO. In early 2010, he told The Wall Street Journal that he was in "no rush" for Facebook to go public. 
 
 The CEO owns around 28% of the company and holds 57% of its voting share power, according to the filing. Mr. Zuckerberg will sell shares in the IPO and will use the proceeds to pay taxes, it said. The filing doesn't say how many shares the CEO intends to sell. 
 
 People familiar with Mr. Zuckerberg's thinking said he has long been fearful of the damage an IPO could do to the company's culture. He wants employees focused on making great products, not the stock price, they said. 
 
 Mr. Zuckerberg's thinking began changing when Facebook realized in 2010 that it would have more than 500 shareholders by the end of 2011, which would trigger a regulatory requirement that the company start publicly reporting financials. Mr. Zuckerberg decided it made more sense for Facebook to go public and reap some financial benefit from an IPO. 
 
 Facebook also still faces questions about its commitment to its users' privacy, an issue that had dogged it since its earliest days. Despite a settlement last year with the Federal Trade Commission in which the company agreed to independent privacy audits for 20 years, privacy advocates worry about the vast trove of user data it owns. Mr. Zuckerberg has promised users he is committed to protecting their privacy. 
 
 Facebook takes pains to mention the importance of privacy, mentioning the word 35 times in the filing, and even listing its "privacy and sharing settings" as one of the ways the company creates value. 
 
 Marketwatch columnist Mark Hulbert reports that at its initial public offering Facebook will be nearly 40 times more expensive than the average large IPO of the last four decades. (Photo: AP/Paul Sakuma) 
 
 In a letter to potential shareholders, Mr. Zuckerberg—who has long eschewed the business side of Facebook—said he plans to continue focusing on building products, rather than sales growth. "We don't build services to make money; we make money to build better services," Mr. Zuckerberg wrote. "These days I think more and more people want to use services from companies that believe in something beyond simply maximizing profits." 
 
 Overall, Facebook's annual revenue growth is slower than other tech companies who have staged IPOs recently. Groupon's revenue grew 695% for the nine months ended September 2011 from a year earlier. Zynga's revenue more than doubled for that same time period. 
 
 Unlike some other newly public Web companies, Facebook is profitable, with 2011 profit up 65% from the year earlier period. But growth has its costs. The company's research and development expenses ballooned last year to $114 million in 2011 from $9 million in 2010, primarily due to growth in employee head count and equity compensation. Facebook's costs and expenses are going up faster than revenue. It employs 3,200 as of December, up from 2,172 a year earlier. 
 
 Debra Williamson, an eMarketer analyst who had estimated Facebook's 2011 revenue at $4.27 billion, called the company's revenue "disappointing." 
 
 But Kevin Landis, portfolio manager of Firsthand Technology Value Fund, Inc., which has bought Facebook shares in the secondary market, said he wasn't disappointed and hopes to buy more stock when Facebook goes public. "This is a company that has only just begun to scratch the surface of making money off those hundreds of millions of people getting on Facebook every day," he said. 
 
 Social gaming has become an increasingly important part of Facebook's business. The company generated $557 million in revenue from partners such as Zynga who sell virtual goods last year. 
 
 Facebook's revenue is still driven by online ads. The number of ads delivered on the site grew 42% and the average price per ad grew 18% over 2011 from 2010, according to the filing. 
 
 The company attributed the improvement to a vast trove of information that allows marketers to "show their ads to a subset of our users based on demographic factors such as age, location, gender, education, work history, and specific interests that they have chosen to share with us on Facebook or by using the Like button around the web or on mobile devices."
– Tomorrow should be a pretty good day to live in Farmville: Creator Zynga begins trading publicly on the Nasdaq exchange under the ticker ZNGA, and the company has set the price for the 100 million shares being sold at $10, reports MarketWatch. That would peg the market value of Zynga at $7 billion and make it the biggest US Internet IPO since Google in 2004, notes the Wall Street Journal. The $7 billion valuation is impressive, but it's way under the figure of $20 billion being thrown around earlier this year in giddier days. Next up, Facebook?