Zynga, Jive IPOs Face Rough Weather in Choppy Markets

The turbulent stock market may throw up obstacles in front of two initial public offerings on tap, including on-line game site Zynga as well as workplace social networking developer Jive Software.

Pricing for Jive's $117 million IPO is expected after Monday's market close. The Palo Alto, Calif.-based software company's offering is being underwritten by Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, which previously said they wanted to price the shares between $8 and $10.

Considering Monday's market plunge on continuing fears surrounding Europe as well as Intel's fourth-quarter revenue shortfall news, the pricing might have to be trimmed. The S&P 500 Index was down more than 2 percent.

Even if the pricing is maintained, the shares might still get hammered after initial trading, much like Groupon's shares fell sharply below their $20 IPO price set Nov. 4. In recent trading, the Chicago-based company's shares were at $21.65, down 7.8 percent.

Jive also isn't profitable yet. Filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission show the social networker's net losses were $38.8 million for the nine months ended in September. Revenue jumped more than 70 percent to $54.8 million.

The company identifies competitors including IBM and Oracle, both software behemoths as well as devourers of smaller companies. Last week, IBM said it will acquire e-commerce specialist DemandTec for $440 million to better match Oracle.

Oracle, meanwhile, is in the process of acquiring RightNow Technologies of Bozeman, Mt., for $1.5 billion, to boost cloud computing services.

Meanwhile, shares of San Francisco-based Zynga, which has been vying for an IPO since July, are scheduled to be priced Thursday also by Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, between $8.50 and $10 a share. The company hopes to sell 100 million shares, valued at $1 billion.

CEO Mark Pincus last week conducted an investor road show during which the developer of FarmVille and other online games said it had a robust pipeline of games under development. As well, many Zynga games are conducted on the site of its close partner, Facebook, the 800-million-member social networking giant that may conduct its own IPO next year.

Zynga's IPO was delayed because of choppy markets as well as SEC demands for revisions. The latest prospectus shows the company posted a $30.2 million net profit on revenue of $828.9 million for the nine-month period ended Sept. 30.

As Zynga's revenue more than doubled from 2010, paying customers reached 6.7 million.

Still, Zynga's IPO price might leave it ahead of long-established gaming developers headed by Electronic Arts, the Redwood City, Calif.-based publisher of EA Games and EA Sports but behind Activision Blizzard, of Santa Monica, Calif.

Although Pincus, 45, does not plan to sell any shares in the IPO, various corporate investors want to exit, such as Google, Avalon Ventures, Mail.ru Group, Digital Sky Technologies and Tiger Global Management.

Other technology IPOs have had a mixed year. Shares of security specialist Imperva were at $28.55 Monday, nearly $11 above their initial price. Shares of professional social networker LinkedIn were at $67.77, or $22.77 above their May 18 pricing.