Short answers, pulled from the story.
Zynga was founded in April 2007 by Mark Pincus, along with founding team members Eric Schiermeyer, Justin Waldron, Michael Luxton, Steve Schoettler, and Andrew Trader. The company was initially named Presidio Media and renamed Zynga in July 2007, after Pincus's American bulldog Zinga.
FarmVille, launched on Facebook in June 2009, became Zynga's most prominent game, reaching ten million daily active users within six weeks and over 80 million players by February 2010. By late 2017, Zynga Poker and Words with Friends 2 were its most successful titles, with about 57 million games being played at any given moment.
Take-Two Interactive acquired Zynga for $12.7 billion in a cash-and-stock deal, paying $9.86 per share. The transaction was announced on the 10th of January 2022 and closed on the 23rd of May 2022.
In September 2019, a hacker known as Gnosticplayers claimed to have breached Zynga's database of Words with Friends players and accessed 218 million registered accounts. The breach-tracking website Have I Been Pwned confirmed in December 2019 that more than 173 million accounts were affected.
Zynga used a free-to-play model, earning revenue through in-game sales of virtual goods, in-game advertising, banner advertising around its game portals, and partner offers such as surveys and credit card sign-ups. The company also sold pre-paid cards for virtual currency in the United States starting in March 2010.
On the 3rd of June 2013, Zynga announced layoffs of 520 employees, roughly 18 percent of its workforce, and closed offices in New York, Los Angeles, and Dallas. By July 2013 the company had reportedly lost nearly half of its user base from the previous year, and investors reduced Zynga's valuation by $400 million.