Angry Birds creator mulls IPO
Angry Birds creator Rovio is set for a stock market listing, according to reports from Finland today.
The maker of the popular videogame mobile app could be listed on the New York Stock Exchange as early as next year, its chairman Kaj Hed said.
Hed first broke the news to Finnish magazine, Talouselama (Economy), where he said Rovio’s recent $42m (£25.9m) funding was the company’s first step towards becoming as big as Google or Facebook.
In the interview he said he was targeting a US listing because “We have tens of millions of fans in the United States.”
He has since told Reuters that Rovio plans a US initial public offering (IPO) in the next five years.
The game was released in December 2009 for Apple’s iOS phone and over 12 million copies of the game have been bought from Apple’s appstore.
In a call with Reuters, Hed said he believes an IPO is a better route for Rovio than a sale to another company.