<p><div class="image-container float_right" style="width:400px"><div class="image"><img src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/506f0e09ecad04cf5d00000a-400-300/mark-pincus-2.jpg?maxX=400&amp;maxY=300" border="0" alt="mark pincus" width="400" height="300" /></div><p class="source"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/fortunelivemedia/7598558634/sizes/l/in/photostream/">Fortune Live Media / flickr</a></p></div><keyword id="188699" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Zynga">Zynga</keyword> is laying off about 30 people, or 1 percent of its workforce, as it shuts down four offices in New York; Baltimore; Austin, Texas; and McKinney, Texas.</p>
<p>All four of the offices had recently lost their leaders, and many were associated with big flops for the struggling maker of <keyword id="592101" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Social-games">social games</keyword>.</p>
<p>Zynga CEO Mark Pincus and COO David Ko have talked about cutting costs and shutting down unsuccessful games more quickly in recent earnings calls and investor conferences.</p>
<p>It seems that management at these studios had some inkling of what was coming.</p>
<p>The Baltimore office was run by <keyword id="352330" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Brian-Reynolds">Brian Reynolds</keyword>, a famous game designer who most recently oversaw CityVille 2, a sequel which Zynga is shutting down. He left Zynga last month. About half the Baltimore employees are transferring within Zynga, to its San Francisco headquarters and elsewhere.</p>
<p>The McKinney, Texas office was run by Paul and David Bettner, who founded Newtoy, the maker of Words With Friends. They <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/word-with-friends-paul-bettner-david-bettner-newtoy-zynga-departure-2012-10">left in October</a>, and it's not clear who succeeded them. Employees there are moving to another Dallas-area studio.</p>
<p>Zynga is consolidating multiple offices in New York and Austin.</p>
<p>The New York office being closed was run by <keyword id="1764692" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Demetri-Detsaridis">Demetri Detsaridis</keyword>, who recently spearheaded <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/zynga-new-york-the-friend-game-2012-12">development of the Friends Game</a>, another shuttered title. Detsaridis, the founder of Area/Code, which <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/detsaridis">Zynga acquired in early 2011</a>, just left Zynga, according to his LinkedIn profile.</p>
<p><keyword id="1625067" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Dan-Porter">Dan Porter</keyword>, the former CEO of OMGPOP, now general manager of Zynga New York Mobile, will run the combined studio.</p>
<p>The downtown Austin office was formerly run by <keyword id="1764693" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Andrew-Busey">Andrew Busey</keyword>, who sold Challenge Games to Zynga in 2010 but <a href="http://www.statesman.com/news/business/austin-tech-entrepreneur-andrew-busey-joins-austin/nRkBq/">just left to join Austin Ventures as an entrepreneur-in-residence</a>. Zynga <a href="http://hire.jobvite.com/CompanyJobs/Careers.aspx?c=qoX9Vfw9&amp;page=Job%20Description&amp;j=ot25Vfwf">appears to be hiring a general manager for the Austin office</a>.</p>
<p>Last October, Zynga made major <keyword id="6357067" type="EVENT" weightage="60" keywordseo="layoffs">layoffs</keyword> in Austin in connection with moving development of The Ville, an unsuccessful title, to Zynga's India studio. (The Ville is still open to players but more or less on life support.)</p>

Zynga Shuts Four Leaderless Offices And Cuts 30 Jobs

<p><strong><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5bcf4850d2e6483c5c2debd4-1600/gettyimages-872127450.jpg" border="0" alt="Dara Khosrowshahi Uber CEO" data-mce-source="Michael Cohen/Getty Images" data-link="https://www.gettyimages.com/license/872127450" /><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.gettyimages.com/license/872127450">Michael Cohen/Getty Images</a></span></p></div><p></p></div></div></strong></p><ul class="summary-list"><li><strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/uber" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Uber</a> bonds were so popular that the company issued $500 million more than originally anticipated in a secretive offering last week</strong></li><li><strong>Credit markets are hot as the ride-hailing company races towards an <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/ipo" target="_blank" rel="noopener">IPO </a>next year, with one Wall Street analyst saying he's never seen anything like it in more than three decades. </strong></li></ul><p>Uber<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/uber-bond-offering-raises-2-billion-popular-offering-2018-10"><span> quietly raised $200 billion through a secretive bond offering last week</span></a>. And while little is known about who bought the ride-hailing firm's first-ever debt offering, Wall Street analysts are ruminating about what the oversubscribed auction could mean for the company's hotly anticipated public offering.</p><p>"We have never seen a deal like this in our 34-year career," Brian Reynolds, an analyst at Canaccord Genuity said in a note to clients Tuesday. "That it happened during a time of equity jitters really illustrates the underlying demand for credit by investors."</p><p>Specifically, Reynolds points to the few facts that are known of the massive offering: The deal was three-times oversubscribed, meaning Uber had to turn away potential buyers, or at least limit how much the few investors were able to buy. Such demand also helped the largest of the two tranches - $1.5 billion of eight-year coupons - see its yield sink 50 basis points and price surge to above $102.</p><p>"That is akin to a hot IPO surging after the pricing in a weak overall tape," Reynolds continued.</p><p>Uber is <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/r-uber-proposals-value-company-at-120-billion-in-a-possible-ipo---wsj-2018-10?IR=T"><span>eyeing a public offering as soon as next year. </span></a>The company could net a whopping valuation of more than $120 billion, the Wall Street Journal recently reported. Wall Street banks, at least one of which floated that $120 billion number in a presentation, are circling like vultures to be a part of the massive offering (and netting the lucrative fees banks take home for bookmaking on IPOs).</p><p>However, Uber is still struggling to slow its cash burn and shake off a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/the-takedown-of-travis-kalanick-2018-3"><span>bad reputation it garnered under the leadership of founder Travis Kalanick, who departed as CEO last year</span></a>. Now a year into new CEO's Dara Khosrowshahi tenure, some of the identity crises are still playing out.</p><p>Cameron Poetzscher, Uber's head dealmaker since 2014, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ubers-top-dealmaker-cameron-poetzscher-resigns-2018-10"><span>resigned on Monday</span></a>. Poetzscher, who oversaw deals including SoftBank's $7+ billion investment into the company, had previously been accused of sexual misconduct and received a formal warning from the company last year, <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/top-uber-deal-maker-disciplined-after-probe-into-office-conduct-1537954201?mod=article_inline"><span>the Wall Street Journal reported. </span></a></p><p>Uber's closest competitor, the much smaller <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/lyft-doubled-valuation-15-billion-2018-6"><span>Lyft, is also racing towards an IPO next year - and has already signed Credit Suisse </span></a>to assist with that process. Its valuation could top the company's<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/lyft-doubled-valuation-15-billion-2018-6"><span> $15.1 billion valuation in private funding rounds</span></a>, but would still leave it less than one-quarter of Uber's.</p><p>So while equity markets remain frothy - the benchmark S&amp;P 500 index is down 2% this week alone - more credit offerings could hit the market. Netflix by example, another headline-grabbing yet cash-burning tech giant, said Monday it plans to<a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/netflix-stock-price-issues-2-billion-junk-bonds-to-fund-content-spending-2018-10-1027640423"><span> issue $2 billion of junk bonds,</span></a></p><p>"The indications from the credit market continue to be that this credit boom is likely to persist for a much longer time than most investors expect, most likely another 3-5 years," said Reynolds of Canaccord. "The credit market also continues to indicate that the credit boom will likely intensify over the next few years."</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/science-behind-mounting-tires-controlled-explosion-setting-tire-bead-fire-lighter-fluid-2018-9">The science behind the viral videos of mounting tires with a controlled explosion</a></h3>        <div>            <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/QElnorCb-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script>        </div>    </div>

'We have never seen a deal like this in our 34-year career:' Uber's massive bond offering shrugged off a gloomy stock market - and has Wall Street analysts optimistic about its IPO

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/595ffb48f5018467048b4de7-1047/ap17188195991569.jpg" alt="Elon Musk" data-mce-source="Ben Macmahon/AAP Image" /><p class="source"><span>Ben Macmahon/AAP Image</span></p><p class="caption">Elon Musk just wants you to sit back, relax, and let credit market strength inform your bullish stock sentiment.</p></div><p></p></div></div>While the stock market was taking it on the chin late last week, hidden machinations were already underway to save it from further pain.</p><p>On Friday, as the <a href="http://markets.businessinsider.com/index/S&amp;P_500">S&amp;P 500</a> was completing a 1.6% skid over four days, <a href="http://markets.businessinsider.com/stock/TSLA-Quote">Tesla</a> easily priced a $1.8 billion bond offering. That it did so with a such <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-stock-price-earnings-free-cash-flow-record-burn-second-quarter-2017-8">highly-publicized cash flow burn</a> - not to mention a junk rating - is downright incredible.</p><p>The deal ended up getting done at a record-low coupon for a bond of such maturity and low quality, according to a <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-08-11/tesla-is-said-to-boost-bond-sale-to-1-8-billion-for-model-3">Bloomberg News report</a>. What's more, the originally-sought $1.5 billion was bumped up to $1.8 billion due to outsized demand.</p><p>The ease at which Tesla raised such a large amount of money highlights just how favorable credit conditions are right now. And the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/stock-market-news-buy-the-dip-bulletproof-rebound-2017-8">S&amp;P 500's quick, two-day rebound</a> reflects the extent to which equity traders are letting a strong bond market embolden them into buying on weakness - a dynamic that should help prop up the eight-year bull market.</p><p>"The ability of a deep junk, battleground company like Tesla and a jumbo bond deal to price in mid-August amid geopolitical worries is a vivid illustration of the strength of this credit boom," Brian Reynolds, an analyst at Canaccord Genuity, wrote in a client note. "The credit market is indicating that any drawdowns are likely to remain brief and that the equity bull market is likely going to continue for a number of years."</p><p>And it doesn't stop at Tesla. Another one of the market's hottest stocks is getting in on the credit market action: <a href="http://markets.businessinsider.com/stock/AMZN-Quote">Amazon</a>.</p><p>The Jeff Bezos-led tech titan is looking to tap the bond market to raise $16 billion in order to fund its recently-announced <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-buying-acquiring-whole-foods-for-42-a-share-2017-6">$13.7 billion acquisition of Whole Foods</a>. And it looks to be going swimmingly, despite guidance from Amazon suggesting they'll lose money next quarter for the first time in two years - at least according to Reynolds, who cites anecdotal reports of strong investor demand.</p><p>While Amazon has a better credit rating than Tesla, that's still a huge chunk of debt to be assuming. The fact that nobody seems to be batting an eye is more good news for the online retail kingpin, and by extension the broader stock market.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/59920881b0e0b533098b4cc5-831/screen shot 2017-08-14 at 42554 pm.png" alt="Screen Shot 2017 08 14 at 4.25.54 PM" data-mce-source="Markets Insider" data-mce-caption="Stock traders bought the dip on last Thursday's weakness, something they've become quite accustomed to doing." data-link="http://markets.businessinsider.com/index/S&amp;P_500" /><p class="source"><span><a href="http://markets.businessinsider.com/index/S&amp;P_500">Markets Insider</a></span></p><p class="caption">Stock traders bought the dip on last Thursday's weakness, something they've become quite accustomed to doing.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p class="tagline">Get the latest Tesla stock price<a href="http://markets.businessinsider.com/stock/TSLA-Quote"> <strong>here.</strong></a></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/the-bottom-line-stock-market-records-apple-tesla-tech-earnings-jim-glassman-economy-2017-8">THE BOTTOM LINE: New record highs for stocks and a deep dive into Apple's iPhone</a></h3>        <div>            <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/4Rs0mxkk-xjRU7l6Z.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script>        </div>    </div>

Tesla and Amazon raising billions in the debt market shows why traders shouldn't be scared of big stock drops

<p><img class="float_right" src="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/4afd6e8e0000000000a92bae-400-300/goldfinger.jpg" border="0" alt="goldfinger" />The postmortem for last week's historic <keyword id="18712" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="60" keywordseo="Gold">gold</keyword> price collapse continues.</p>
<p><keyword id="1738334" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Art-Cashin">Art Cashin</keyword>, UBS Financial Services' Director of Floor Operations, passed along a theory tied to the world of structured financial products.</p>
<p>In short, a structured product is an investment vehicle that gives the client tailored exposure to the markets.  It usually employs derivatives like options and swaps.</p>
<p>In his note this morning, Cashin advances the idea that pension funds invested in structured products tied to gold had safeguards in place that would force these products to unwind should the price of gold fall below $1,530/oz.</p>
<p>Here's Cashin:</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Was There A Mystery Guest At Last Week's Gold Massacre?</span> – As you may recall, the Friday/Monday gold massacre, had more than a few strange aspects.  As prices plunged in the pits, gold coin shops were said to be swamped with near record demand.<br />...<br />The puzzles and conspiracy theories were still very much alive on Wednesday, the 17th, when, in a pre-dawn interview on CNBC, Brian Reynolds of Rosenblatt Securities suggested, rather matter of factly, that a good deal of the carnage in gold might have come from the unwinding of some "structured products" held by pension funds.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Fascinated, I reached out to Brian to learn more about how structured products (big in the mortgage meltdown) were suddenly adding leverage (and danger) to the gold market.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Apparently, it all starts with an old familiar premise – pension funds and others are desperate for yield and greater return in this ongoing age of QE and zero interest rates.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Say oil has averaged $95 over weeks or months.  The wizards might structure kick-out triggers at, perhaps, $75 and $115.  Should oil fall below $75, the structured contract would terminate, leaving the issuing bank with an unexpected, and unwelcome position in oil, in a falling market.  Reynolds says the urge to dump that position is compounded by balance sheet limits in Dodd-Frank.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Okay, back to gold.  Here is what Brian wrote, somewhat prophetically, back on February 21st, long before the waterfall in gold began:</p>
<p style="padding-left: 60px;">The caps and floors associated with structured finance tend to leave participants long or short at the worst possible time. We remind people that there are likely caps and floors associated with structured finance positions in gold around the 1530 and 1800 areas, so it should not be unusual to see rumors pick up as the metal nears those areas. If the floor gets broken decisively, participants may find themselves unexpectedly long, and rush to quickly dispose of those unwanted positions.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">When gold broke through 1530, the cascade began.  How much of the freefall had to do with structured products?  No way to tell just yet.  We're still digging.  It's a topic worth pursuing since the Bank for International Settlements says the value of commodity related contracts may be in the multi-trillions.</p>
<p>Should this be true, then it means at least some pension funds are continuing to get banged up.</p>
<p><a href="http://www2.blackrock.com/us/individual-investors/insight-education/chart-of-the-week/a-mammoth-of-a-retirement-issue">BlackRock's Chart of the Week</a> highlights the falling funded status of pension funds:</p>
<p><table class="image-container" width="200"><tr><td><div class="image"><img src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/5177eb4e69bedd742b000001-620-335/fp_cotw_apr2213.jpg" border="0" alt="pension fund status" /></div><p class="source"><a href="http://www2.blackrock.com/us/individual-investors/insight-education/chart-of-the-week/a-mammoth-of-a-retirement-issue">BlackRock</a></p></td></tr></table></p>

You Searched For "Brian Reynolds" and got 4 results

Zynga Shuts Four Leaderless Offices And Cuts 30 Jobs

Owen Thomas

'We have never seen a deal like this in our 34-year career:' Uber's massive bond offering shrugged off a gloomy stock market - and has Wall Street analysts optimistic about its IPO

Graham Rapier

Tesla and Amazon raising billions in the debt market shows why traders shouldn't be scared of big stock drops

Joe Ciolli

ART CASHIN: Here's An Alternative Theory For Last Week's Gold Market Crash

Sam Ro