Frank Gibeau had just become CEO of Zynga when he had to announce some bad news.

The once-awesome-looking company that offered hit games like FarmVille on Facebook found itself in trouble. At a meeting of Zynga’s team in March 2016, Frank Gibeau revealed exactly what the company’s situation was. The room remained quiet.

“I showed them the worst of the worst”, said Frank Gibeau in an interview. “We had less return than everyone in the industry”, added he.

Three years later, the mood is very different. The company raised its forecast three times last year. Profit margins have rebounded, with sales growing at the fastest pace since the gaming company went public in 2011. Zynga is “on track to become one of the fastest-growing, if not the fastest-growing, a gaming company of scale”, said the CEO.

Zynga’s stock has increased in value almost triple to 6.15 USD per share since Frank Gibeau, 51, took over as CEO. This includes a 56% increase for 2019, ahead of the 29% increase in the S&P 500.

The stock is still well below its peak after the IPO, when in 2012, the stock price went up to nearly 16 USD per share. But Wall Street shareholders and analysts are once again targeting the company.

“Investors love good business turnaround stories”, commented Colin Sebastian, an analyst at Robert W. Baird & Co.

In the meantime, Frank Gibeau rethought his vision. Now it doesn’t rely on Facebook-based games that have given the company the reputation of constantly sending annoying notifications to consumers. Instead, Zynga focuses on standalone games that users play on their phones. The list includes Words With Friends, Zynga Poker and Merge Dragons!.

Additionally, Zynga uses acquisitions as a way to grow. In 2018, it announced that it was acquiring a majority stake in Small Giant Games for 560 million USD and in Gram Games for 250 million USD.

It has cash and short-term investments worth up to 1.5 billion USD and can be used for additional deals. To raise funds, Zynga sold bonds.

Now the idea is to create a small empire of gaming studios and franchises, according to Frank Gibeau, who is a veteran of Electronic Arts.

“We see many opportunities to acquire assets that will add value to shareholders”, commented the CEO of Zynga.

Zynga is preparing for its next transformation by targeting new platforms and devices.

“In ten years, I’m sure the platforms will be different. There will be other platforms, such as streaming platforms based on cloud gaming”, said Frank Gibeau. Video game consoles that have dominated the industry for such a long time may not exist after a decade, which will open the door to other options, according to the company’s CEO. “I want our games to be played on everything, even if it’s a toaster or a fridge”, added he.