'Candy Crush Saga' Maker Files for IPO of Up to $500 Million
King Digital Entertainment PLC, the maker of the popular 'Candy Crush Saga' smartphone game, said Tuesday it filed for an initial public offering of up to $500 million on the New York Stock Exchange.
The company said it hasn't decided on the number of shares to be listed or the price range for the offering.
King, a London-based company established in 2002, has risen to prominence amid the rapid rise of casual games for Apple Inc.'s iPhone and phones running Google 's Android operating system.
King is most famous for the vastly popular and profitable Candy Crush Saga game, which was launched on Facebook Inc. in April 2012 has been leading top grossing charts and has been one of the most frequently downloaded free apps via the iPhone and Google Play.
The latest filing shows the company has posted enormous growth in a few short years. In 2013, the company reported a profit of $567.6 million, up from $7.8 million in 2012. Revenue jumped to $1.88 billion, up from $164.4 million.
The paperwork comes after the company filed confidentially last summer with the Securities and Exchange Commission for an offering, The Wall Street Journal had reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
King intends to apply to list on the NYSE under the symbol 'KING.'
Another mobile game developer, Zynga Inc., had an IPO in 2011. But Zynga shares have performed poorly since their debut, falling more than 50%, as investors have questioned whether it is able to produce hit games for mobile devices like it previously did for Facebook. with titles such as 'FarmVille.' The company's revenues fell in the first nine months of 2013 versus the same period in 2012, and it lost money over both periods.
King will likely face many investor questions about what differentiates it from Zynga, and how it can continue to match the fickle tastes of mobile gamers. Last year, King launched a new game, 'Papa Pear Saga,' that joined 'Candy Crush' in the 10 most-downloaded apps for Apple devices in December, according to AppAnnie, which tracks app downloads and revenues.
'Candy Crush' also generated the most revenue of any game on Apple devices in December, AppAnnie said. Players download the app for free, but are able to pay for options within the game. King launched television commercials to promote the game last year.
Though hit titles can be fleeting, the mobile gaming business still offers significant opportunity. Mobile and tablet games globally were estimated to have produced revenue of $12.2 billion last year, according to eMarketer Inc., a market research service. That would be a 34% jump from 2012.
In October, Japan's SoftBank Corp. bought a 51% stake in Finnish game designer Supercell for $1.5 billion, the largest ever investment in a mobile game company.
King picked different investment banks than Zynga to underwrite its IPO, with J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Credit Suisse Group AG and Bank of America Merrill Lynch taking the top roles. Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. led Zynga's IPO.
Write to Ben Fox Rubin at ben.rubin@wsj.com , Telis Demos at telis.demos@wsj.com and Sven Grundberg at sven.grundberg@wsj.com
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