Updated: Trades In Zynga Frozen On Steep Declines After Facebook Opens

Shares in social gaming company Zynga, which Tech.li recently covered in an expose, are frozen after 13 percent declines. Heavy downside volume triggered Nasdaq’s so-called “circuit breakers,” which the exchange put in place after the Flash Crash of 2010.

Image Credit: Screencap of Google Finance

Rolfe Winkler speculated:

$ZNGA collapsed when $FB opened. Off 13%. Maybe no one wants to own a $FB proxy now that they can own $FB??

Zynga’s social gaming business relies heavily on Facebook as a distribution network. Declines in Zynga shares could be a market reaction to Facebook’s initial 13% pop, or these declines could simply reflect investors’ decisions to dump a once-hot social tech stock in search of greener (or bluer) pastures.

As this is a developing story, we will update you when more news hits the wires.

Update: Trading in Zynga have resumed.

Jason Rowley: Jason D. Rowley does not like being wrong. He is a writer, startup founder, sometimes landscaper and gardner, and his library’s best customer. Jason is heavily involved with the entrepreneurship scene at the University of Chicago, where he studied political science before “taking a break” (e.g. dropping out, noncommittally) to work with his classmates on his current project, which will debut shortly. He’s written voluminous, ripsnorting articles for Flyover Geeks (now Tech.li) for over six months and publishes on Tuesdays. Edward Domain and others have described him as “obstreperous”, a label he wears with not inconsiderable pride. Jason, in spite of these claims, is a pretty nice guy.