Zynga Reports Q3 2012 Earnings

Hot on the heels of the mysterious and sudden layoffs of 150 employees at Zynga's multiple studios comes the company's Q3 2012 earnings report, and while it doesn't look too good for the once-booming social game studio, it's not as bad expected. The company earned a revenue of $317 million, but the net income dipped into the negatives, losing $52 million during the third quarter.

It's not all bad, though. Revenue was actually expected to be around $250 million, so the amount of money Zynga brought in was actually more than what analysts thought. However, the company is looking for ways to cut down on costs and save a little bit of cash. They implemented a "cost reduction plan" that will hopefully total a pre-tax savings in the fourth quarter of up to $20 million.

The plan already included the downsizing of certain studios and the closure of others. In total, Zynga cut 5% of its workforce and shut down its Boston branch. The company also expects to shut down its Japan and UK studios, but no timeline has been given for that. Zynga also is expecting to shut down 13 of their games, but a lot of their popular games will still remain available.

However, Zynga is reporting slightly higher user numbers this time around. Daily active users were 60 million during the third quarter, which is up 10% from 54 million a year ago, but down from 72 million in the second quarter of this year. Monthly active users were 311 million in the third quarter, up 37% from 227 million a year ago, and also up from 306 million during Q2.