Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.
What: Shares of Zynga (ZNGA) have popped today by as much as 11% on speculation that Yahoo! could acquire the social game maker.
So what: Wunderlich Securities analyst Blake Harper is the source of the speculation. He suggested that the search engine could scoop up Zynga, as it's been on an acquisitive streak of late. New CEO Marissa Mayer has made many changes at Yahoo!, including numerous acquisitions related to social media, such as Alike and Snip.it, among others.
Now what: Harper mentions that recent speculation revolved around possible targets like restaurant reservation maker OpenTable and reviewer Yelp, but he believes that Zynga would also make sense. The analyst also considers Tumblr and FourSquare as possible candidates. Harper notes that Yahoo! has lost market share in display advertising since Mayer became CEO, and expanding the company's social presence would be the right move.
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