Zynga chief executive officer Mark Pincus, unlike the heads of many young technology companies, is an experienced veteran of the technology sector, and even of the IPO market.

The 45-year-old Pincus first came to Silicon Valley in the mid-1990s at the forefront of the dot-com era. He founded two different online companies, one of which was ultimately sold and the other of which became a major investing force in the industry.

Even as he led these companies to substantial success, he also created tension within the companies, drawing the ire of his board of directors at one point. However, the experience offered Pincus experience in negotiating that secured him an investment in Zynga from Google and, eventually, the strong support of Facebook as a feature of the massive social networking platform.

Pincus’ earlier experiences also left him with a drive to retain control of his company, however, and Reuters reports that a special class of stocks provide him with 37 percent of voting power in the company, roughly 70 times that of the common stock being sold at the company’s upcoming IPO.

Initial public offerings are always an uncertain investment to an extent, with companies often going public without a long-proven track record of success, sometimes looking for the funds necessary to keep the company going. The 2011 IPO market has not proven any easier, with many companies canceling or delaying their IPOs over the summer as the global economy suffered a downturn with both the U.S. and Europe struggling through debt crises.

Ultimately many analysts and even companies have found themselves looking from one high-profile IPO to the next, hoping that it would perform well and provide some encouraging signs for investors. Most recently, daily deals site Groupon completed a $700 million IPO, but it quickly followed the same pattern of most other companies this year and slumped below its early trading prices.

But Forbes reports that online gaming company Zynga, the creator of popular mobile and Facebook games like FarmVille and Words with Friends, stands a strong chance of surviving where many others have not. Valuing itself at $7 billion, Zynga has set far more modest goals than some recent IPOs and actually manages to back it up with a well-established business model that has already managed to make substantial profit – $30 million on $829 million of revenue over the past nine months.

Indeed, Bloomberg reports that Zynga announced on Thursday, December 8, that the company already has enough orders to cover the sizable portion of shares it intends to sell – 14 percent of common stocks, well more than many recent IPOs – at a price range of $8.50 to $10 per share.

Bloomberg notes that Zynga has given itself a substantially larger price-to-sales ratio than some of its primary competitors, but this still compares favorably with other IPOs seen so far this year.

Meanwhile, The Chicago Tribune reports that Zynga founder and chief executive officer Mark Pincus claimed at a luncheon in Boston that his company could reasonably double the number of players who actually pay for the company’s games. At present, paying customers account for only 3 percent of the 6.7 million players of Zynga games.

Investors are likely to remain wary after a bed that saw collapses from essentially every major IPO, but Zynga nonetheless offers as much promise of a spark as any of those earlier entrants held.

In advance of the release of the iPad last year, Apple completed contracts with several major global publishers to allow the Apple store to sell many popular e-books. Unlike traditional contracts, Apple arranged to allow the publishers to set the ultimate sale price, rather than simply agreeing on a wholesale price and leaving the rest to individual retailers.

The European Commission has grown concerned that such a policy could lead to a decline in competition between retailers, though it stopped short of claiming the companies breached anti-trust regulations.

Others, however, have already made such claims, with one lawsuit in the U.S. alleging that Apple collaborated with publishers to raise prices in order to boost profits and put pressure on other e-book retailers like Amazon and Barnes & Noble, according to Computerworld.

Investors have struggled substantially to determine whether they made a good choice putting their money into the young daily deals company, particularly after a quick decline similar to many of the other technology companies going public this year.

However, the company has not been all bad news, with chief executive officer Andrew Mason announcing the company had sold 650,000 holiday deals over the Black Friday weekend. that represents a 500 percent increase and potentially double the sales of similar deals by rival LivingSocial.

Meanwhile, MarketWatch reports the company has initiated a substantial shift in its approach to revenue growth, with a greater emphasis on marketing than on subscriber growth, which had been a major cost for the company that drew criticism in the lead up to its IPO.

The company’s stock has recovered somewhat from its recent lows, briefly rising above its $20-per-share IPO price on Friday, December 2. It quickly fell back below, but remained above its recent average.

The long-awaited initial public offering plans to issue 100 million shares with a price range of $8.50 to $10.00. If stock options and existing shares are counted, the company has 904 shares outstanding, Reuters reports.

Selling the shares at the bottom of the price range would raise $850 million and provide the company with a valuation of $7.7 billion, whereas pricing the shares at the top of the range would raise $1 billion and provide the company with a value of $9.04 billion.

Zynga was originally planning a larger IPO but decided to downsize its plans in order to avoid following Pandora and Groupon, which both sank after their primary offerings, according to Bloomberg. Renaissance Capital reports that Zynga is pricing its shares at a multiple of five to six times its 2011 sales, compared to a multiple of seven times for both Groupon and Pandora.

The Japan-based car manufacturer recently displayed the Juke Nismo Concept at this year’s Tokyo Motor Show, CNET reports. At the time, Nissan announced that a positive response could provide the vehicle’s production with a green light.

According to the media outlet, “the production of the vehicle depended on on the reaction at the Tokyo Motor Show,” Chiaki Sumi, chief project specialist for the Juke, said in a statement. “If it’s quite positive, we’ll consider introducing it into the market.”

The car has been altered by moving the chassis lower and the 1.6-liter turbo gasoline engine has been improved to offer users improved performance, according to Automotive Business Review. Side elements have been added to the tailgate spoiler and 18-inch alloy wheels have been added to the vehicle.

Andy Palmer, Nissan Motor executive vice president, has stated that the success of the Nissan Juke has made it evident that consumers are looking for something aside from currently available offerings, the media outlet reports.

According to Reuters, the social gaming company responsible for the “FarmVille” craze is the most recent in a list of tech companies looking to get their feet wet in public markets, including Groupon Inc. and Angie’s List. One source claims the IPO could be the largest internet debut ahead of Facebook’s.

The roadshow will see CEO Mark Pincus give presentations to investors, while COO John Schappert and CFO David Wehner are also expected to make appearances.

Zynga filed for an IPO of up to $1 billion on July 1, and is regarded as one of the most highly anticipated IPOs in the technology sector due to its viral computer games, including Farmville and CityVille. Sterne Agee analyst Arvind Bhatia told Reuters attention will lie mostly on the company’s estimated $14 billion valuation.

While some claims of poor relations between the company and its employers have surfaced as the company edges closer to going public, Lazard Capital Markets analyst Atul Bagga says the discrepancies are not likely to affect the company’s IPO, according to The Washington Post.

While some might imagine unfair business practices entailed some means of pushing out competitors, the FTC actually took action against Facebook on the basis of consumer privacy concerns.

The agency raised issues such as opening up user information without authorization or notification and changing data security policies without sufficient notice or explanation.

“We’ve all known that Facebook repeatedly cuts corners when it comes to its privacy promises,” Eric Goldman, a law professor at Santa Clara University, told the Times. “Like most Internet companies, they thought they could get away with it. They didn’t.”

The settlement Facebook arranged with the FTC will lead to the company undergoing external privacy audits every two years for the next 20 years. Any later breaches will quickly result in substantial fines.

Despite the undoubted inconvenience of regular audits, Facebook stands to gain from the deal as it prepares for an IPO that could bring in more than $10 billion and any potential investor concerns could cost hundreds of millions.

Nevertheless, Computerworld notes many experts expect Facebook to change only minimally in response to the settlement and believe that the company got off with a relatively light penalty.

The Kindle Fire, a full tablet line somewhat distinct from the previous e-reader Kindles, was only released earlier this month, but the device has received numerous positive reviews only boosted by its price. While Amazon’s e-readers range in price from $79 to $149, the retailer’s tablet comes in at a surprisingly low $199.

Comparatively, the iPad 2 starts at nearly $500 and can reach more than $800 with various other additions.

Amazon did not release details on its sales of the tablet, but noted it had sold roughly four times as many Kindles as compared to figures from last year, even with last year’s high sales figures.

Yet even though the Kindle Fire outsold the iPad 2 at major retailer Target, InformationWeek notes a survey from PriceGrabber indicating more people would prefer an iPad to other brands, suggesting the Fire has a ways to go before taking hold of the market.

Lise Buyer, principal of IPO advisory firm Class V Group, told the media outlet that "it's far too early to accurately predict where the valuation will be on deal day."

If Facebook's flotation raises $10 billion, it will be the largest tech IPO thus far, easily surpassing the $1.7 billion that Google raised during its 2004 IPO. The media outlet reports that the largest tech IPO in history happened when Infineon Technologies AG generated $5.23 billion during the dot-com era. The second largest IPO came from Agere Systems, which raised $4.14 billion during the same time period.

The social media giant issued a statement during a January funding round that expressed its expectation of surpassing 500 shareholders some time this year, which will require it to file documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission either on or before April 30, 2012.