????幾個月前，Zynga的形勢確實一片大好。這家休閑游戲公司獲利“豐厚”，切實從2011年其他首次公開募股的網絡公司中脫穎而出。按照當時對該公司的股票估價，其市值可能高達200億美元，著實讓投資者們“欣喜若狂”。

????現在，該公司已然上市，情形卻變得截然不同。Zynga股票于上周五正式上市，開盤價為10美元/股，相應地，公司價值只有70億美元。盡管之后其股價又數次呈現上升之勢，幾度超過了11美元/股，但周五收盤時迅速跌至9.5美元。而至本周一，更是跌到了8.75美元。按此低點計算，Zynga的市值約為61億美元，略低于商務社交網站LinkedIn 63億美元的市值，盡管Zynga過去一年內的營收總額是LinkedIn的兩倍。此外，照此計算，Zynga的市值還不足團購網站Groupon的一半。

????與此同時，Zynga迅速地從首次公開募股的英雄變成了狗熊，有關其股票如何浦一上市便“一敗涂地”的報道無處不在。但是，這些分析絕大多數都忽略了一個關鍵細節。而且，這一細節與其說與Zynga的財務數據有關，不如說它與首次公開募股交易的幕后文化來得更為密切。Zynga一直希望能從此次募股中籌得10億美元的資金。但是，路透社（Reuters）一語中的：為了實現上述目標，Zynga必須得放棄證券包銷商通常向首次公開募股投資者提供的15%的折扣。事實上，只有這一折扣才能確保上市首日出現高價。

????盡管剛剛上市的股票價格注定飄忽不定，但是，人們通常習慣根據公司股票是高于還是低于各自最初的估價，全盤肯定或全盤否定一家公司的首次公開募股。盡管如此，如果對Zynga的狀況進行相對深入的觀察和分析，便會發現，事情遠沒那么簡單。不錯，市場有權質疑Zynga的股價是否公平。但是，該公司很可能不像有些批評家所說的那樣糟糕透頂；相反，它的形勢很可能比今年上市的其他網絡股票要健康得多。

????在此僅以那些稱Zynga上市失敗的評論為例進行分析。如果與在線音樂網站潘多拉（Pandora，首日增長了9%）、Groupon（首日增長了31%）、以及LinkedIn（首日增長了109%）等其他網絡公司的首次公開募股的首日表現相比，得出Zynga上市失敗的結論再合理不過。但是，另外幾家公司首日公開發行的股票比例比Zynga要小得多，只占其股票總數的5%~9%；而Zynga公開發行的股票，在其普通股中占了14%。

????Several months ago, things were looking very good indeed for Zynga. The casual-gaming company stood apart from other web IPOs of 2011 thanks to its "bountiful" profits. Investors were "excited" by an offering that could value the company at $20 billion.

????Now that Zynga (ZNGA) has gone public, things are looking much different. The stock debuted Friday at $10 a share, valuing the company at a relatively modest $7 billion. After popping above $11 a share for a few promising moments, the stock quickly sunk to $9.50 Friday and fell as low as $8.75 Monday. At that low point, Zynga's market value was $6.1 billion, a bit below LinkedIn's (LNKD) $6.3 billion market cap -- even though Zynga's revenue over the last 12 months was twice as large as LinkedIn's. Zynga's market value was also less than half that of Groupon (GRPN).

????Just as quickly, Zynga went from IPO hero to dog, with stories describing how its "dud" offering "fizzled." Much of that analysis overlooked a crucial detail that says less about Zynga's financials than it does about the backroom culture of IPO deals. Zynga always wanted to raise $1 billion in this offering. But to do that, as Reuters pointed out, it chose to forego the 15% discount that underwriters often give to IPO investors, a discount that virtually guarantees that first-day pop.

????Despite the volatility inherent in newly-listed stocks, there's a tendency to rate IPOs in a thumbs-up, thumbs-down manner, based on whether their stocks are above or below their respective offering prices. But a closer look at Zynga shows things are more complex than that. Yes, the market is right to question whether Zynga is fairly valued at its offering price. But Zynga may not be as bad off as some critics are suggesting -- and it may well be in much better shape than other web stocks that have gone public this year.

????Take, for example, the claim that Zynga's debut was a dud. That's seems true enough if you compare it to the first day performances of other web IPOs like Pandora (P) (up 9% on its first day), Groupon (up 31%) and LinkedIn (up 109%). But these companies launched with much smaller floats, offering between 5% and 9% of their total shares. Zynga offered a larger float, about 14% of its common stock.