Report: Talks Suggest $1.2B Valuation For Angry Birds' Rovio

Angry Birds developer Rovio is looking to acquire funding that would give the company a value of around $1.2 billion, according to media reports. A couple of unnamed sources "with knowledge of the discussions" told financial news website Bloomberg that the Finland-based behemoth is in talks to take a strategic investment from an as-of-yet unnamed company in the entertainment business. According to the sources, Rovio has already rejected similar offers from other "large institutional investors," but is now looking to fund its current expansion plans. Analyst Michael Pachter at Wedbush Securities suggested that the most likely investors are Electronic Arts, Zynga, News Corp or Walt Disney. "I can see how Disney would take Angry Birds and turn them into a theme-park ride and a movie," he explained. "Zynga could take Angry Birds and make it into FarmVille." Last month, Rovio said that it is "betting everything" on the ultra-popular Angry Birds brand, noting that it would like to be "the first entertainment brand with a billion fans." The company also suggested that the game will see more than 100 million downloads in China, thanks to a new partnership with Chinese mobile ad network Madhouse.