Don Mattrick, the former head of Microsoft Corp. (MSFT)’s entertainment division who takes the reins as chief executive officer of Zynga Inc. (ZNGA) today, has been hankering to run all or part of the social-gaming company for at least three years.
In 2010, Mattrick negotiated with Zynga founder Mark Pincus about buying the maker of such popular games as “FarmVille,” according to people with knowledge of the matter. The idea was to bolster Microsoft’s Xbox lineup with social games that then were adding millions of users on Facebook Inc. (FB)’s network each week. The discussions ultimately fell apart, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the talks were private.
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