Angry Birds Creators Now Worth £5.5bn

The company behind the Angry Birds mobile phone game has been valued at £5.5bn - nearly as much as phonemaker Nokia.

The download - where players use a slingshot to attack pigs who steal birds' eggs - has now been downloaded 800 million times.

Sales for the game's creators Rovio Entertainment - started by three students - jumped tenfold last year to £61m.

Now the game, made for the iPhone and also available on Facebook, is being developed into a 52-episode TV series and a Hollywood movie.

The Finnish company launched its latest Angry Birds game - Angry Birds in Space - in March and it was downloaded 50 million times in 35 days.

Rovio said its finances were good enough for a listing after revealing the highly profitable 2011 in its first public disclosure of business results.

The company was founded in 2003 but became a global phenomenon after it launched Angry Birds in late 2009.

Since then it has remained at the top of the gaming charts and it has 200 million monthly users.

"Rovio has fended off all rivals so far," said analyst Tero Kuittinen from Finnish mobile firm Alekstra.

"Rovio is still the king of the mountain, despite stiff recent challenges by OMGPOP and Disney's 'Where's My Water?'"

Rovio plans to launch several more titles in 2012, which include a non-Angry Birds title, Chief Executive Mikael Hed said.

"2012 looks fantastic," Mr Hed said. "We have had some very strong download numbers over four months."

Consumer products, which includes merchandising and licensing, generated around 30% of revenues last year, with the share higher in the fourth quarter, Mr Hed added.

At the shareholders meeting, listing plans were not on the agenda, but Rovio has earlier said the company would likely be ready for an initial public offering next year.

Rovio was founded after three students won a game-development competition sponsored by Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia and Hewlett-Packard CO.

Shares in Nokia, whose headquarters are just a few buildings away from Rovio, were 1.4% lower on Monday, valuing the firm at £7.1bn.