“King.com, maker of the popular ‘Candy Crush Saga’ puzzle game on Facebook Inc. and Apple Inc. products, made a confidential filing for an initial public offering, a person familiar with the matter said,” Cliff Edwards and Ari Levy report for Bloomberg. “The company, part of Midasplayer.com Ltd., according to its website, hasn’t set a date for the sale, said the person, who asked not to be named because the plans are private.”
“An IPO could value the business at $5 billion to $7 billion, said Michael Pachter, an analyst with Wedbush Securities in Los Angeles, who based his estimate on sales figures from company executives,” Edwards and Levy report. “‘A $5 billion valuation is perfectly reasonable,’ Pachter said. ‘They aren’t a one-hit wonder, they’re a four-hit wonder and if the numbers show that’s sustainable, they’ll get more than the $5 billion.’ Sales this year will top $1 billion, up from about $500 million in 2012, according to Pachter.”
Edwards and Levy report, “King.com, which has offices in San Francisco and Stockholm, holds the top two spots among monthly active users on Facebook with ‘Candy Crush Saga’ and ‘Pet Rescue Saga,’ according to the website AppData, which tracks usage. It’s among the top downloads on Apple’s iOS devices…”
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