Zynga's revenues for the second quarter of 2013 declined 31% year-over-year to $231 million in the midst of a challenging transition that saw former CEO Mark Pincus hand over the reins to Don Mattrick.
The company had a net loss of $16 million compared to last year’s net loss of $22.8 million during the same quarter (which also had $95.5 million of stock-based compensation expenses). If you account for that then, the company’s net loss was $6.1 million compared to last year’s net loss of $4.6 million based on non-generally accepted accounting principles.
Zynga said when it laid off nearly 20 percent of its staff last month that it expected to see a net loss of between $39 million to $28.5 million.
Zynga continues to be in the middle of a big pivot onto mobile platforms, where it has had to compete against older and historically smaller rivals from the Facebook platform like King and Kabam. Both of those companies have fared well with King’s Candy Crush Saga bringing it the top grossing spot and numerous Kabam titles in the top 25.
In contrast, Zynga just has its longstanding Poker franchise in the U.S. top grossing 25.
Last quarter, COO David Ko said the company was in the midst of a “pause” to re-evaluate its entire game slate and that this decision would be financially apparent in this quarter. The company's daily active users fell to 39 million this past quarter, down from 72 million during the same period last year. It also saw 187 million monthly active users, down from 306 million users in the same time period a year before.
The company’s launches like Draw Something 2 have also underperformed without any slots in any of the top 100 charts and Zynga’s other big mobile launch, Running With Friends, remains in 45th place in the U.S. top grossing chart.
Zynga’s struggles in diversifying away from Facebook and missing the pivot to mobile convinced Pincus to give up the CEO role, although he remains chairman of the board and serves as chief product officer.
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