Mark Pincus spent $2.2M on his incubator; now he's selling it to Zynga for $1

Hollywood & Games returns to Los Angeles on December 10, bringing together 250+ executives, founders, investors and decision-makers at the Grammy Museum's Clive Davis Theater. Explore the business of entertainment's biggest partnership through independent, journalist-led conversations on IP, investment, storytelling and new opportunities across gaming and Hollywood. Space is limited. Secure your seat today.

Zynga has acquired Superlabs, the incubator that Mark Pincus created after leaving Zynga, for $1.

The acquisition closes the loop for Pincus, who started the incubator after he stepped down as the CEO of Zynga, which he also founded. Now that Pincus has returned to Zynga as its CEO, the incubator is coming with him.

Along with any intellectual property that the incubator owns, Zynga will also have the option to hire its nine employees, according to a government filing published today, and it may offer them as many as 1.13 million shares of restricted Zynga stock (“ZSUs” in the company’s terminology). Zynga is also assuming about $365,000 in liabilities from the company.

It might be a satisfying conclusion for Pincus, but it’s also a substantial tax writeoff: The filing notes that Pincus invested approximately $2.2 million into his incubator since starting it in November 2014.

Let’s hope the investments he makes as the returning CEO of Zynga generate bigger returns than that one did.

Thanks to: Re/code

Subscribe to our newsletter