Zynga's Revenue Growth Is Dying Off

Zynga, the social gaming company best-known for Facebook games such as FarmVille and Mafia Wars, announced a significant cost-cutting program yesterday. The company that went public in December 2011, plans to reduce its 2,900-person staff by 18 percent until August. Cutting the 520 jobs will save Zynga about $80 million a year, the company said in its official statement on Monday.

Zynga has seen its user base decline from 311 million monthly active users in last year's third quarter to just 253 million MAUs in early 2013, mainly due to the ongoing shift towards mobile web usage. As a consequence, Zynga's revenue growth has come to a halt, leaving the company no choice but to reduce costs substantially. Zynga will shut down its offices in New York, Dallas and Los Angeles entirely to streamline the company for the transition to mobile and multiplatform gaming.