Facebook less reliant on Zynga, new filing indicates

In a new SEC filing, Facebook has revealed that approximately 15 percent of its revenue during the first fiscal quarter of 2012 came from sales of virtual goods in Zynga games, and advertising on Zynga games. The company said that 11 percent of its total revenue for fiscal Q1 ended March 31, 2012, came from payment processing fees related to Zynga's sale of virtual goods, while an addition 4 percent of revenue is estimated to have been generated from ads displayed on the same pages as games from Zynga. This compared to the estimated 19 percent of total revenue that Facebook attributes to Zynga during the same quarter of the 2011 fiscal year. That lower percentage indicates that Facebook is becoming less reliant on Zynga's financial health. Facebook noted the launch of Zynga's own social gaming platform earlier this year, and admitted that its revenue may take a hit if Zynga chooses to move its operations away from Facebook. "Zynga has recently launched games on its own website and on non-Facebook platforms, and Zynga may choose to try to migrate users from existing Facebook-integrated games to other websites or platforms," it said. "We may fail to maintain good relations with Zynga or Zynga may decide to reduce or cease its investments in games on the Facebook Platform. If the use of Zynga games on our Platform declines for these or other reasons, our financial results may be adversely affected." For the fiscal quarter ended March 31, 2012, Facebook posted revenues of $1.1 billion, up compared to $731 million year-over-year, meaning that Zynga accounted for around $158.7 million of the total revenue. It posted profits of $205 million, down compared to last year's $233 million. Analyst firm Baird Equity Research estimates that these figures imply that Zynga took net bookings of around $230 million from virtual good transactions on Facebook during the first quarter.