Business Wire

CA-ZYNGA

5.8.2021 22:09:32 CEST | Business Wire | Press release

Share
Zynga Enters Into Agreement to Acquire Mobile Game Developer StarLark, Team Behind the Hit Franchise, Golf Rival

Zynga Inc . (Nasdaq: ZNGA), a global leader in interactive entertainment, today announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire StarLark, developer of the fast-growing and second-largest mobile golf game in the world, Golf Rival, from Betta Games for $525 million in cash and stock. This acquisition brings to Zynga a talented development team with the proven ability to create a global hit and additional projects in early development. StarLark also expands Zynga’s international presence by establishing a China-based studio with access to the region’s creative talent base.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210805005098/en/

In Golf Rival , players of all skill levels compete in real-time player-versus-player matches, including multiplayer tournaments on spectacular courses with customizable equipment. The game has rapidly grown to become the second-largest mobile golf game in the world with six million downloads in 2021 alone.

“With the acquisition of Golf Rival , Zynga becomes home to a talented team with the proven ability to create a global hit, while expanding Zynga’s international footprint with a new studio in China,” said Frank Gibeau, Chief Executive Officer of Zynga. “Golf Rival has rapidly ascended to become the second-largest mobile golf game in the world, with six million downloads in 2021 alone. Together, Zynga and StarLark are well-positioned to grow Golf Rival faster together with additional new projects in early development.”

“I’m very proud of the StarLark team for making Golf Rival a worldwide hit and we are thrilled to join Zynga to further accelerate the game’s incredible growth trajectory as a forever franchise,” said Henry You, Founder and General Manager of StarLark. “This partnership will provide Zynga with greater accessibility to China’s deep talent pool, while also giving StarLark access to Zynga’s global resources and expertise.”

Zynga will acquire the StarLark development studio and Golf Rival franchise for approximately $525 million, comprising approximately $315 million of cash and approximately $210 million of Zynga common stock (issued at the average closing price per share over the thirty-day trading period ended August 02, 2021). The final closing consideration will also include customary closing adjustments and is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2021.

Zynga was advised by White & Case and Fangda Law. Aream & Co. acted as the exclusive financial advisor and Orrick served as legal advisor to Betta Games in this transaction.

Editor’s note:

Key art and broadcast assets available for use at the following link:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/k04y6d41bgrcw7m/AACg-NaEWZDbPEumf0s42qlIa?dl=0

About Zynga

Zynga is a global leader in interactive entertainment with a mission to connect the world through games. With massive global reach in more than 175 countries and regions, Zynga has a diverse portfolio of popular game franchises that have been downloaded more than four billion times on mobile, including CSR Racing ™, Empires & Puzzles ™, Hair Challenge, Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells, High Heels!, Merge Dragons! ™, Merge Magic! ™, Queen Bee ™, Toon Blast ™, Toy Blast ™, Words With Friends ™ and Zynga Poker ™. With Chartboost, a leading mobile advertising and monetization platform, Zynga is an industry-leading next-generation platform with the ability to optimize programmatic advertising and yields at scale. Founded in 2007, Zynga is headquartered in California with locations in North America, Europe and Asia. For more information, visit www.zynga.com or follow Zynga on Twitter , Instagram , Facebook or the Zynga blog .

Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including those statements relating to, among other things: the proposed acquisition of Beijing StarLark Technology Co., Ltd. (“StarLark)”, the Golf Rival mobile game franchise and related other games, intellectual properties, business records and specified other assets and liabilities; our ability to achieve the intended benefits of the acquisition, including the growth of the Golf Rival franchise, the development of future games, and attracting and retaining key development and other personnel; the purchase price for the acquisition and the timing in which the transaction is expected to close. Forward-looking statements often include words such as “projected,” “planned,” “intend,” “will,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “target,” “expect,” and statements in the future tense are generally forward-looking. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and reflect management’s current expectations. The achievement or success of the matters covered by such forward-looking statements involves significant risks, uncertainties, and assumptions, and our actual results could differ materially from those predicted or implied. Undue reliance should not be placed on such forward-looking statements, which are based on information available to us on the date hereof. We assume no obligation to update such statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ include: satisfaction of transaction closing conditions and our ability to timely close the transaction; our ability to effectively integrate and achieve the expected benefits of the transaction; and risks of litigation and/or regulatory actions related to the transaction. More information about these risks, uncertainties, and assumptions and additional factors that could cause actual results to differ are or will be described in greater detail in our public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), copies of which may be obtained by visiting our Investor Relations website at http://investor.zynga.com or the SEC’s web site at www.sec.gov .

About Business Wire

Business Wire
Business Wire
101 California Street, 20th Floor
CA 94111 San Francisco

http://businesswire.com

Subscribe to releases from Business Wire

Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Latest releases from Business Wire

Miro Announces Asia Hub in Singapore to Accelerate Growth Across the Region and Bring AI Collaboration to New Markets17.3.2026 02:00:00 CET | Press release

AI Innovation Workspace perfectly placed to help organisations maximise AI investment and accelerate innovation Miro®, the AI Innovation Workspace for teams, today announced plans to expand its operations in Asia, supporting organisations across the region in their AI transformation journey. Miro is investing in people, resources, and infrastructure as it targets growth in key markets, including Singapore, India, South Korea, and other Southeast Asia countries. As the global innovation centre of gravity shifts toward Asia – where R&D spending reached 45% of global investment in 2024 – the organisations leading this charge need tools and platforms built for the complexity and pace of modern innovation and collaboration. Miro's AI-powered innovation workspace is uniquely positioned to support this moment. Miro gives organisations the shared context layer they need to move from insight to execution faster than ever before. For Asia's most ambitious innovators, where speed-to-market and cr

IQM and Zurich Instruments Launch Real-Time Quantum Error Correction Demonstrator with NVIDIA NVQLink16.3.2026 22:24:00 CET | Press release

The demonstrator being built in this project delivers a clear path toward scalable and fault-tolerant quantum computers. The joint project integrates IQM’s superconducting quantum processor, Zurich Instruments’ ZQCS Quantum Control System, with the NVIDIA NVQLink platform to enable real-time error correction. This initiative establishes a foundation for standardized enterprise-ready quantum systems, and datacenter deployment. Today, IQM Quantum Computers and Zurich Instruments announce a joint project to build and operate a real-time quantum error correction (QEC) demonstrator, enabled by the NVIDIA NVQLink platform. This project marks a significant milestone toward scalable and fault-tolerant quantum computing designed for enterprise and datacenter deployment. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260316511715/en/ IQM and Zurich Instruments launch real-time quantum error correction demonstrator with NVIDIA NVQLink

Kinaxis Advances Large-Scale Supply Chain Optimization with NVIDIA AI16.3.2026 21:30:00 CET | Press release

Achieves up to 12X faster end-to-end planning performance in large-scale enterprise models Kinaxis® Inc. (TSX: KXS), a global leader in supply chain orchestration, today announced a new milestone in advancing large-scale supply chain optimization within the Kinaxis Maestro™ platform. Maestro already delivers high-performance optimization across complex global supply chains, and Kinaxis is now extending that leadership by leveraging GPU acceleration powered by NVIDIA cuOpt™ and NVIDIA AI infrastructure. As supply chains grow in scale and complexity, planning models must reconcile tens of millions of variables across extended time horizons and multiple planning levels. As model size expands, the number of potential decisions can scale into billions, dramatically increasing computational needs. Organizations are no longer constrained by insight alone. They are constrained by how quickly they can iterate. In testing on a large-scale semiconductor planning model with nearly 50 million decis

Lattice Joins NVIDIA Halos Ecosystem to Advance Safety for Physical AI with Holoscan Sensor Bridge16.3.2026 21:30:00 CET | Press release

Lattice Semiconductor (NASDAQ: LSCC), the low power programmable leader, today announced it has joined the NVIDIA Halos AI Systems Inspection Lab ecosystem, the first ANSI National Accreditation Board (ANAB) accredited inspection lab for AI-driven physical systems. Announced at the NVIDIA GTC 2026, Lattice will engage with NVIDIA and other Halos ecosystem members to build Halos-certified Holoscan Sensor Bridge-based designs for physical AI and to help shape best practices as the industry evolves. “Physical AI is rapidly moving from controlled environments into the real world, where safety, reliability, and trust are paramount,” said Raemin Wang, Vice President, Segment Marketing, Lattice Semiconductor. “Through this collaboration, Lattice looks forward to contributing our expertise in low power FPGAs and award-winning solution stacks to enable scalable, trusted physical AI systems across robotics, industrial automation, and autonomous applications.” NVIDIA Halos is a comprehensive full

Lenovo Brings Production-Scale AI to Global Sports: Enhancing Fan Experience, Driving Revenue Growth, Boosting Performance, and Improving Operational Efficiency with NVIDIA16.3.2026 21:30:00 CET | Press release

Multiyear collaboration introduces new solutions spanning Sports Intelligence, Operations, and Media & Content. At NVIDIA GTC today, Lenovo (HKSE: 992) (ADR: LNVGY) announced an expanded multiyear collaboration with NVIDIA to help the global sports industry deploy production-scale AI across mission-critical environments, transforming live data into revenue growth, operational resilience, and real-time decision advantage. The global sports technology market is projected to grow from $23 billion in 2025 to more than $60 billion by 2030. Global sports events represent some of the most complex and demanding operating environments in any industry, combining unprecedented scale, technical sophistication, and public visibility. These events engage billions of viewers worldwide, generate and process petabytes of data in real time, and require highly coordinated, distributed operations across multiple countries, all within a context where reliability, resilience, and uninterrupted performance a

In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.

Visit our pressroom
World GlobeA line styled icon from Orion Icon Library.HiddenA line styled icon from Orion Icon Library.Eye