According to separate reports from AllThingsD and The New York Times, the social gaming behemoth is close to completing a $500 million funding round. That's twice as much as was previously reported by The Wall Street Journal.
Kara Swisher reports that participants in the round include Morgan Stanley, T. Rowe Price and Fidelity Investments. She also notes that this type of funding is "essentially a precursor to an initial public offering."
Likewise, The New York Times reports that Zynga is considering an IPO, perhaps as early as the first quarter of 2012.
Stratospheric tech valuations are becoming less of an anomaly, thanks to continued funding rounds for companies like Twitter, Groupon and Facebook.
Zynga is profitable, with revenue estimates of $500 million to $1 billion annually. Analysts continue to question Zynga's longterm viability, given its reliance on Facebook, but over the course of the past year, the company has proven it can continue to grow its user base and make more advertising deals.