Peak aims high after $1.8 bln acquisition

The young and discreet founder and employees of Turkish gaming company Peak are aiming high after its acquisition by U.S. giant Zynga for $1.8 billion.

The Zynga-Peak deal announced on June 1 resembles that of between Pixar and Disney in 2006, according to the Turkish company's strategy director.

"Pixar is one of the companies we admire and follow with curious eyes. It has been a good role model for us," Ömer İnönü told daily Hürriyet on June 3.

"The figure is very important, but the more important part for us is it being a call to Turkey in general," he said.

"We have no difference than other people in Turkey. If we could do it, everyone can. We are young people born, educated, and have grown up in this country ... We wished to shout this out all around Turkey. This has been an opportunity to shout it out," he added.

Peak, which was founded 10 years ago, will continue operating in Istanbul with a 100-strong team. The average age of the company's staff members is 29.

Its founder, 40-year-old entrepreneur Sidar Şahin shies away from media attention. He previously founded video platform izlesene.com and gaming firms Funpac and Gamegarden. He was also among founders of e-commerce company Trendyol.

He was born to an engineer and a teacher in the southeastern province of Şanlıurfa, where he took his primary school education. After completing his secondary education in Istanbul, he dropped out of the prestigious Boğaziçi University.

On a short remark about the deal, Şahin said, "both firms share the same vision to gather people through games."
Separately, İnönü further outlined their future targets in a humble virtual press conference on June 1.

"During the last decade, we reached hundreds of millions of...