• Wall Street Journal, Wednesday, July 23, 2008 11 AM

A company that makes free game applications for Facebook is about to receive a large infusion of cash from investor Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers -- a sign of investors' growing interest in services that plug into social networks.

The company, Zynga Game Network, is also an unusual recipient for Kleiner's funding in that it's been around a while. Kleiner is known for investing in younger companies, but is making an exception in this case -- further indication of the importance placed on social networking success.

The San Francisco-based startup plans to announce the funding at Facebook Inc.'s developer conference, called f8, along with the news that William "Bing" Gordon, the former chief creative officer of Electronic Arts Inc., will join its board.

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