Zynga, maker of Facebook games FarmVille, Mafia Wars, is in talks to raise $500 million

Potential investors are hitting the \"like\" button over speculation that Zynga - which makes popular Facebook games such as FarmVille, CityVille and Mafia Wars - is in talks to raise up to $500 million.

If struck, the deal would boost the value of the privately held company to as much as $10 billion - in anticipation of an initial public offering early next year.

San Francisco-based Zynga is among a handful of Inteet and social media companies - including Facebook and deals website Groupon - expected to make a huge splash by selling shares to the public in the near future.

\"Over the next months, we're going to see something we haven't seen in the last 10 years, which is the evidence of blockbuster IPOs,\" said Dick Kramlich of New Enterprise Associates.

There will be \"half a dozen companies that are going to command\" huge sums of money, he added.

Zynga, which is said to be in negotiations with mutual fund giants T.Rowe Price and Fidelity Investments, currently has more than 50 apps and games that attract more than 274 million users a month, according to AppData.com.

CityVille, which debuted in November, lets users create and control a virtual metropolis by buying and selling goods and materials with other Facebook users.

It has 95 million monthly users and is the most popular game on Facebook.

FarmVille, in which users build a virtual farm, is second with 51 million monthly users.

Zynga, which also makes app versions of its more popular games for Apple's iPhone and iPad, is said to be developing a new website, Zynga Live, that would be separate from Facebook and let gamers compete and interact with other users.