Zynga issued a press release tonight confirming the more than month-old news of an investment by Softbank – $150 million – and are announcing a joint venture to “develop and distribute social games across Japan.”
Zynga didn’t talk about the other $150 million they took from Google in connection with a partnership over the new Google Games property. Although they soft-confirmed it to the New York Times in a recent article about the company.
Zynga has raised a whopping $519 million in venture capital, including that chunk from Google. Here’s the press release:
ZYNGA AND SOFTBANK CORP. LAUNCH JOINT VENTURE TO ACCELERATE SOCIAL GAME INDUSTRY IN ASIA
SOFTBANK INVESTS $150 MILLION IN ZYNGA
SAN FRANCISCO and TOKYO – July 29, 2010 – Zynga and Softbank today announced a joint venture that will develop and distribute social games across Japan. The new joint venture, Zynga Japan, brings together leaders in social games and consumer technology to offer millions of new users the ability to play social games anytime and anywhere. In conjunction with today’s announcement, Softbank has completed a $150 million investment in Zynga. With this agreement, Zynga and Softbank will tighten their relationship as business partners.
The joint venture extends Zynga’s reach to a wider global audience and marks the company’s first foray into the rapidly growing internet and mobile market in Japan. Based in Tokyo, Zynga Japan will tap into Japan’s rich history of gaming and leverage Softbank’s cutting edge mobile and Web technology to produce the best social games in the market.
“Zynga is a leader in social games and I am delighted to partner with them to introduce their social games to Japan,” said Masayoshi Son, chairman and CEO of Softbank. “We share the same vision as Zynga in social games and look forward to working together to create a social game powerhouse.”
“We’re excited to partner with Softbank to bring Zynga’s social games to Japan and gain insights from the Japanese market,” said Mark Pincus, CEO and Founder of Zynga. “As one of the most innovative technology companies in the world, Softbank is bringing the mobile internet to consumers making the social web more accessible to people everywhere.”
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About Zynga
Zynga’s games include FarmVille, Treasure Isle, Zynga Poker, Mafia Wars, YoVille, Café World, FishVille, PetVille and FrontierVille. Zynga games are available on Facebook, MySpace and the iPhone. Through Zynga.org, Zynga players have raised over $3 million for world social causes. Zynga is headquartered in Potrero Hill in San Francisco. For more information, visit http://www.Zynga.com or http://www.Zynga.org.
About Softbank
Softbank is a leading technology company connecting consumers through its broadband infrastructure, fixed-line telecommunications, and mobile communications services. Softbank has invested in overseas companies with high potential to provide next generation services using the internet, including Oak Pacific Interactive (which operates China’s largest SNS site), and Ustream, Inc. (which is the operator of the Ustream.TV website), a broadcast platform offering live video distribution service via the Internet (video streaming service). By leveraging this investment in Zynga and through its other efforts, Softbank continuously aims to generate synergies among various content and services within its group. For more information, visit http://www.softbank.co.jp/en/.
Zynga was founded in July 2007 by Mark Pincus and is named for his late American Bulldog, Zinga. Loyal and spirited, Zinga’s name is a nod to a legendary African warrior queen. The early supporting founding team included Eric Schiermeyer, Michael Luxton, Justin Waldron, Kyle Stewart, Scott Dale, John Doerr, Steve Schoettler, Kevin Hagan, and Andrew Trader. Zynga’s mission is connecting the world through games. Everyday millions of people interact with their friends and express their unique personalities through our...
SoftBank is a Japanese telecommunications and media corporation, headquartered in Tokyo and founded in 1981 by Masayoshi Son. With a market capitalization of around $20 billion, SoftBank is one of the biggest Internet-related companies in Asia. SoftBank operates in various fields such as broadband infrastructure, e-commerce, Internet services, fixed-line telecommunications, mobile phone and web business, financial services and many more. The company took over mobile phone operations from Vodafone Japan in 2006 and is currently No. 3 among the main...
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