Report: Zynga could be worth $5 billion on the public market

The theoretical amount of imaginary money that Zynga could potentially be worth if it possibly became a publicly traded company has been going up steadily for a while now. It was already at a healthy $1 billion back in November. That jumped to $1.5 to $3 billion after a Russian investment in December. By February, Sharespost put the company at a healthy $3.3 billion. Now, Zynga could be worth as much as $5 billion in theoretical money, according to a new report from the analysts over at SecondShares.

The report is relatively bullish on the social gaming market leader, estimating the company is already making more than $500 million in revenues annually off its over 237 million monthly active users. And that healthy number could go go up significantly if Zynga starts to monetize its users as well as the best Chinese social games already do. By 2015, the report estimates Zynga could be worth a staggering $10 billion, which would put it toe to toe with the smallest companies on today's Financial Times Global 500.

But the report is not overly optimistic. For one, it warns that Zynga is highly dependent on the continued success of Farmville, which the report ominously warns "appears to have peaked in terms of its popularity." For another, the company faces a lot of competitors, any of which could create the next revenue-attracting it in what is a very hit-driven business.

[Via GigaOm]