Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA) Shares Jump On Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB)’s Comments

Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB)’s media-shy founder, Mark Zuckerberg managed to talk up his shares and that of its close ally and game developer Zynga Inc(NASDAQ:ZNGA).

In this first public appearance since the company's controversial IPO on May, Zuckerberg appeared every bit the geeky entrepreneur, dressed in his trademark gray t-shirt, jeans and sneakers.

He was talking at a conference in San Francisco organised by technological blog TechCrunch.

Admitting that the market response to his company's stock was disappointing, Zuckerberg however tended to be dismissive of the negative perception of his venture among critics and analysts.

He said that the company's mobile strategy was not understood and added that the company was looking at various ways to make money from mobile subscribers.

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With respect to Zynga, Zuckerberg said that the social gaming landscape had become more competitive, with other game companies being able to gain momentum on the platform.

“Zynga’s had a rough few quarters. They’re basically a strong company,” he said, according to BusinessInsider.com, which live blogged the event. “Other companies, like King.com and Kixeye, have gained share. We have 200 million people playing games monthly. That’s real.”

The social games company, which has faced its own struggles as a public entity and often trades in tandem with Facebook, was is up 4% to $2.90, while shares of FB soared 6% to $20.59.

This morning, Needham & Co. cut its price target from $40 to $25, while Evercore reduced its target to $23 from $34. Laura Martin of Needham kept her buy rating on the shares, "because we continue to believe in the long-term option upside value of Facebook global platform, especially for video and commerce applications, and the long term economic upside associated with its 900mm users."