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Jeffrey Katzenberg on why he joined Zynga’s board

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DreamWorks Animation Chief Executive Jeffrey Katzenberg surprised many in Hollywood when he announced in April that he had joined the board of a San Francisco start-up that makes games played on Facebook.

On Friday, that company, Zynga Inc., went public on Nasdaq, cashing in more than $1 billion -- the most raised in an initial public offering of a U.S.-based technology company since Google Inc. raised $1.66 billion in 2004.

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Katzenberg, who had rarely spoken publicly about his involvement in Zynga, on Friday explained in an interview with The Times what drew him to the developer of FarmVille, CityVille and a dozen or so other games.

Here’s an edited version of the conversation.

How did you first hear of Zynga?

Katzenberg: A couple of years ago, along with tens of millions of other people, I became a customer and a fan.

So you play their games? Do you consider yourself to be a gamer?

Katzenberg: I started with Zynga Poker. And then I moved into all the ‘Villes,’ including the new one, CastleVille. It’s addictive and fun. I check into those games pretty regularly, but I don’t class myself as a gamer.

How did you meet Mark Pincus, the chief executive of Zynga?

Katzenberg: I actually met Mark a year and half ago at an Allen & Company conference in Sun Valley. I was on a panel at the conference with Barry Diller, Howard Stringer and others. The interviewer said to each of us, ‘If you were 25 years old today, what would you be doing?’ I said, ‘That’s easy. I’d be Mark Pincus and make casual games.’ Turns out Mark was sitting in the back of the room, and he said, “Yeah!” So that’s how I met him.

What do you bring to the table as a board member of Zynga?

Katzenberg: One of the ways in which I tried to be helpful to Mark was to offer him some guidance on the process of taking a company public. I had done it with DreamWorks, and I was able to share some of that knowledge with him.

Being the CEO of a public company must be brutal, with investors throwing your stock every which way. What would you say to Mark today after Zynga’s shares lost 5% on its IPO day?

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Katzenberg: We’re in this for long haul. Mark is committed to creating long-term value for shareholders. The hour-to-hour and day-to-day movement of stock is not something that will hold sway over Mark. He wants to build the greatest casual-gaming company in the world. In some ways, he already has.

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CastleVille taps into the dynamics of human relationships

-- Alex Pham

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