Disney?

Interesting idea, but they've picked up Playdom already and if you listen to their analyst calls you'll hear that the investment community isn't sold on them owning game/tech assets vs. licensing them.

I would rule out: - Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Sony, Valve

Just doesn't fit the acquisition profile for those companies IMO. The Popcap guys are smart, and for a billion dollar valuation, the acquire'er would have to have some sizable synergistic advantages afterwards.

Not Valve? I dunno, it seems possible to me, but I think it's probably one of the companies trying to move into casual games, which PopCap are great at, I assume EA.

Valve would be able to make this purchase, but I don't see why they would. There is nothing for them to gain by it at all.

Did you miss where Microsoft just paid double what Skype was worth?

Exclusives for WP7, makes sense and reminds me of exactly what they did with Bungie to build X-Box.

Part of the reason that they were willing to pay so much was because they have a lot of international money that they couldn't easily bring back into the US. Popcap is in the US so they don't fall under the same issue.

Good point which I should have qualified.

Still excluding the tax savings they still overpaid by all accounts, have a long history of wildly good and bad acquisitions and need to give wp7 every advantage they can. There's no way you can rule Microsoft out at this point they've got to be one of the front runners.

They already seem to have a good WP7 relationship (Bejeweled Live is actually written by them, as opposed to EA Mobile [moderately rare for small platforms], and PvZ just came out last week). Make of that what you will.

Why do you think Valve couldn't afford it? They are a private company and so don't have to release revenue figures, but they make billions in revenue a year.

If Valve bought PopCap then it would be like a Reese's Pieces. Two already great tastes coming together. PopCap is the perfect cultural infusion that could get Steam opened up to a larger (non asian 17 year old male) market.

Gree - $5B

DeNA - $6B

Tencent - $50B

Valve could afford to buy the Vatican, and that was before they shipped a single game.

Half-Life Catacombs. Portal to Purgatory.

Sistine Chapplaquiddick - Some sort of first person drunk angel flight sim

No, I don't think so. The value of just the artwork alone would eclipse Valve's value.

But remember that assets are only half the balance sheet...