Original Article on The New York Times

The social-gaming company Zynga on Wednesday reported weak second-quarter financial results and weaker expectations for the rest of the year, David Streitfeld and Jenna Wortham reported, news that sent its stock down by more than a third in premarket trading. Zynga's games, including its signature hit FarmVille, thrive on Facebook, so the dimmer outlook presented an ominous lead-in to Facebook's first earnings report, to be issued Thursday afternoon. Even as Zynga was adding users, it was taking in less money for "virtual goods," like tractors in FarmVille. In one analyst's words: "At the end of the day, though, virtual goods might not be a viable business strategy. People eventually stop spending money in virtual goods and want to spend th...(read more)