Zynga Hasn't Pulled a Groupon So Far

On its first day out, Zynga neither pulled a Groupon or wowed investors, with the stock dropping below the original $10 per-share price, ending at $9.50 for the day.

On its first day out, Zynga neither pulled a Groupon or wowed investors, with the stock dropping below the original $10 per-share price, ending at $9.50 for the day. As the biggest IPO since Google and the first big tech company to follow Groupon's failed public offering, many had looked to Zynga as the barometer for tech IPOs and the market in general. Though, it's still early to tell, at the very least it didn't have a the popped stock problem from which both Groupon and LinkedIn suffered.

Groupon served as a cautionary tale for Zynga. Both had put off their IPOs because of the shaky market. Just a few weeks ago the daily deals site went public. Its stock popped, trading way higher than the original $20 share price at $28. And has since continued to tumble, now hovering around the $20 mark. So far Zynga hasn't seen the same fate, with the stock trading modestly throughout the day.

So what type of fate will Zynga have? The modest trading might not have anything to do with the company's value. Analysts expected a slow start due to poor economic conditions and continuing Eurozone worries, notes ZDNet's Zack Whittacker.  And the below share price doesn't necessarily mean the gaming company will not see its stock go up in the future, as start-up consultant Shai Goldman noted on Twitter. "Zynga went out at $10 and closed at $9.50, not sure if this means if it was priced correctly or investors were not interested $ZNGA," he tweeted.  And no pre-IPO investors sold shares in the offerings, as we see in stock pop scenarios, reports the Financial Times, which is a good sign.

But there's always the possibility that Zynga might never soar, as the pessimistic Julia Boorstin argues over at CNBC. "Wall Street seems to have soured on Internet fare," she writes. "Internet fare" is a bit broad. A gaming company with revenue and (arguable) growth prospects isn't exactly the same as a daily deals site with a questionable business model that has seen a run of bad PR. Not that Zynga doesn't have its own business model problems, such as its Facebook shackles. The makers of Farmville get 95 percent of their revenue from people playing through the social network. And overall only 3 percent of users pay for the service.