NEW YORK, Dec. 17 (UPI) -- U.S. gaming Web site Zynga's debut on the Nasdaq stock exchange proved to be a gamble with slight losses on opening day.
Shares closed 5 percent below the opening sales price of $10, finishing the day at $9.50, The New York Times reported Saturday.
Zynga founder Mark Pincus began the day at the exchange with a hopeful ring of the opening bell. "With our initial public offering, we're accelerating this mission of connecting the world through games," he said. "It's just getting bigger."
The company, instead, proved an adage of going public, which is that a bad week for stocks is not the best time for an IPO. In the week, the Nasdaq composite index dropped 91.55 points to 2,555.33. The blue chip Dow Jones industrial average began the week at 12,184.26 but closed Friday at 11,866.39, off by 317 points.
Zynga is not alone, however. Although shares of technology companies that went public this year jumped an average of 20 percent on their opening days, Renaissance Capital reports average shares among the 42 companies are now an average of 15 percent lower than their initial asking prices.
