Swedish princess engaged to New York banker

STOCKHOLM (AP) — Another royal wedding beckons in Europe: This time it is Sweden‘s Princess Madeleine who is getting ready to tie the knot.

Madeleine and her U.S.-British boyfriend Christopher O’Neill announced their engagement on the royal palace website on Thursday.

The 30-year-old Madeleine is the youngest of King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia‘s three children and is fourth in line to the throne.

The tabloid Expressen reported early Thursday that O’Neill, a 38-year-old financier she met in New York, had proposed to the princess, and the couple confirmed the news in a brief video clip posted on the royal website.

“Chris proposed to me in New York at the start of October, and we are very happy,” Madeleine said in the video, which was recorded Wednesday at the Drottningholm Palace outside Stockholm.

“Madeleine and I have known each other for two years and I recently summoned up the courage to ask her to marry me. Thankfully she said yes,” O’Neill said in English with a British accent. He added a few words in Swedish, saying he was trying to learn the language “but it is difficult.”

Madeleine said the wedding would take place in Sweden in the summer of 2013, and that more details would be released later.

Madeleine lives in New York where she works for the World Childhood Foundation, a nonprofit founded by her mother.

In 2010, she broke off an earlier engagement after media reports that her then-fiancé had cheated on her.

O’Neill was born in London and holds dual American and British citizenship, according to a CV released by the royal palace. He studied at a boarding school in St. Gallen, Switzerland, and holds a bachelor’s degree in international relations from Boston University and a master’s degree from Columbia Business School in New York.

O’Neill now works as a partner and head of research at Noster Capital, a hedge fund with offices in London and New York. His interests include Alpine skiing, tennis, golf, music, arts and the Chelsea Football Club in London, the palace said.

Madeleine’s elder sister, Crown Princess Victoria married her former fitness trainer Daniel Westling at a lavish ceremony in Stockholm in 2010. The couple had a baby, Princess Estelle, this year. O’Neill accompanied Madeleine to Estelle’s baptism ceremony in May.

The Swedish royal family has only ceremonial duties, such as attending award ceremonies, promoting Swedish businesses abroad and supporting charities and foundations. As the head of state, the king also receives foreign dignitaries on formal visits to Sweden.

News of Princess Madeleine and O’Neill’s engagement comes just days after another royal union was celebrated in Europe. Prince Guillaume of Luxembourg and Belgian Countess Stephanie de Lannoy were married Saturday in the tiny duchy’s Notre Dame Cathedral.

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Analysts see recovery sprouting at “FarmVille” creator Zynga

(Reuters) – Zynga Inc’s quarterly revenue beat and its higher full-year earnings forecast show the embattled “FarmVille” creator may be on the path to recovery, analysts said, with at least one brokerage upgrading the company’s stock.

Shares of the company rose 18 percent to $ 2.50 in early trade on Thursday on the Nasdaq. Since going public at $ 10 per share last December, Zynga has lost over three-quarters of its market value as the company struggled with delays in launching new titles as older ones fell out of favor.

Zynga raised the lower end of its 2012 earnings forecast on Wednesday and also announced a new deal with British company bwin.party to offer online real-money gambling and a $ 200 million share buyback plan.

“The announcement of a buyback, while rare for a company that less than a year ago was considered a ‘high-flying’, fast-growing ‘hot’ IPO, nonetheless signals that the board is confident in the company’s future,” Needham & Co analyst Sean McGowan wrote in a note.

He raised his rating on the stock to “buy” from “hold”.

“While not bullish on the likely success of Zynga’s new titles, since management recognizes that its older social games on Facebook are falling, it will spend accordingly and pivot more quickly to mobile,” McGowan said.

Zynga laid off 5 percent of its full-time workforce and shut its Boston office on Tuesday as part of a sweeping cost-cutting campaign that may eventually result in the company closing its Japanese and British studios as well.

While it is healthy to evaluate cost-cutting initiatives, any material reduction in Zynga’s creative talent could also lead to an erosion in innovative new game development, analysts at Piper Jaffray said in a note.

A new share buyback and real-money gaming partnership with Bwin.party will help, but ultimately Zynga needs to demonstrate it can produce hit titles on multiple platforms – mobile, social and browser, Robert W. Baird & Co said in a note.

As sales from one-time cash cows, “FarmVille” and “CityVille,” are fading fast, Zynga is now investing more heavily in “mid-core” games, which require more development resources but are more immersive.

“We expect the strength of its development capabilities as well as its distribution to eventually drive better performance; we believe caution is warranted until we see signs of improved execution,” BMO Capital Markets analyst Edward Williams said.

(Reporting by Sruthi Ramakrishnan in Bangalore; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)

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