Life as a publicly traded company hasn't been forgiving for social game maker Zynga (ZNGA)
After trading nearly hitting $15 a share in the months after its IPO, shares of Zynga now sit below $4. Clearly, things haven't worked out as its management had imagined, at least not yet.
However, conditions have slowly been improving at Zynga in recent months, which has resulted in a nearly 50% rise in shares over the last month.
Onward and upward at Zynga?
The changes at Zynga have started at the top. Last year, it recruited newly minted CEO Don Mattrick from Microsoft, where he spent six years within its gaming division.
However, a change in leadership still might not be enough to save Zynga. Earlier this month, a slew of sell-side analysts lowered their guidance and estimates in coming quarters. As you can probably imagine, this news didn't exactly help to support Zynga's stock price, but more generally also points to some of the inherent challenges present in its "freemium" business model.
In this "Ask a Fool" video, tech and telecom analyst Andrew Tonner gives his take on Zynga.
