Zynga stock 'scandal' overblown

This sequence of events is getting old.

Exactly. I'd like to congratulate Zynga's PR team for both disseminating their message in a prominent publication in an urgent fashion and for dumbing down the issue into Red Sox hyperbole so that even the most simple reader can grasp the wrongs to ownership in having to over-pay an under-performer like Carl Crawford.

But what they fail to mention is that outside of few very talented developers who can keep the ship above water, Zynga is free to scrutinize any and all employees using whatever standards they deem fit and demote the lot of them, recovering as many outstanding options as they want.

This is all probably legal, of course, and given the economic times, I'm sure many Zynga employees will be happy just to have a job. But make no mistake about it, Pincus isn't building a company with an eye on the future, he's selling it. And the more he has to sell, more money in the bank for him, even if he has to repeal every single stock and option grant that he can. In the end, even those who help him get away with this will be so few in number and power that they too will get the Pincus treatment. Buyer beware.