Zynga Buys Istanbul-based Peak Games for $1.8 Billion

Zynga announced this week that it is buying Istanbul-based Peak Games, the company behind popular Candy-Crush-style mobile gaming apps Toon Blast and Toy Blast, for $1.8 billion.

The deal will be paid for in $900 million in cash, and $900 million in Zynga shares.

Shares of Zynga surged to an eight-year high as Wall Street digested the news.

Founded in 2010 by Sidar Sahin, Peak has developed the beloved game franchises Toon Blast and Toy Blast. Peak is expected to grow Zynga’s average mobile DAUs by more than 60% while strengthening Zynga’s international audience.

“We are honored to welcome Sidar and team to Zynga. Peak is one of the world’s best puzzle game makers and we could not be more excited to add such creative and passionate talent to our company,” said Frank Gibeau, Chief Executive Officer of Zynga. “With the addition of Toon Blast and Toy Blast, we are expanding our live services portfolio to eight forever franchises, meaningfully increasing our global audience base and adding to our exciting new game pipeline. As a combined team, we are well positioned to grow faster together.”

San Francisco-based Zynga said that Peak “brings a 100-person strong team and two Forever Franchises, Toon Blast and Toy Blast, that have consistently ranked in the top 10 and top 20 U.S. iPhone grossing games for over two years, respectively.”

It added that those franchises “add significant scale to Zynga’s live services and will be an additional driver of margin expansion over the coming years.”

“This is a monumental partnership not only for Zynga and Peak, but for the whole mobile gaming industry,” said Sidar Sahin, founder and Chief Executive Officer of Peak. “Both companies share a common vision — to bring people together through games. Peak’s culture is rooted in relentless learning and progress, so as we embark on this new chapter in our journey together with Zynga, we remain as committed as ever to our unique culture. We’re very excited for our combined future and what we will accomplish together.”

This is Zynga’s 34th buy in its 13-year history, according to Crunchbase data.

The deal is expected to close in the third quarter.

Disclaimer: We have no position in Zynga Inc. (NASDAQ: ZNGA) and have not been compensated for this article.