Zynga "Acqhires" Social Web Browser Maker Flock

Zynga has acquired Menlo Park, Calif.-based Flock, we have confirmed.

Flock, a five-year-old start-up that also has offices in British Columbia, Canada, was working on what it calls a social Web browser. And, despite never really taking off, received a lot of praise. A Zynga spokeswoman declined to comment.

We were not able to pin down a price, but the company has raised $30 million in venture capital over its lifetime, reports TechCrunch, which first broke the story. The company was founded by Geoffrey Arone and Bart Decrem. Decrem went on to be the CEO of Tapulous, which he sold to Disney. Shawn Hardin is now president and CEO of Flock.

Consider this an “acqhire” because we heard Zynga was particularly interested in Flock’s technology team, which will be joining the FarmVille and CityVille maker in its San Francisco headquarters.

This is Zynga’s first acquisition of 2011 after acquiring seven companies in 2010. The most recent was mobile-game developer Newtoy, which added additional mobile talent to Zynga’s staff.