Today in business: 5 things you need to know

1. ZYNGA SLASHES 520 JOBS

Online gaming company Zynga slashed 520 jobs on Monday, closing offices in New York, Los Angeles, and Dallas, and cutting its workforce to pre-IPO numbers. One of the units cut was OMGPOP, the team behind the popular Pictionary-like game Draw Something. Zynga bought OMGPOP last fall for $180 million. Zynga stocks are down 12 percent since word of the lay-offs broke. [The Wall Street Journal]

………………………………………………………………………………

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

2. WALL STREET IS DRIVING UP HOME PRICES

Home prices jumped 12 percent in the year ending April 2013, the largest increase in seven years. Many attributed the growth to the rebounding economy, but Nathaniel Popper in the New York Times says large Wall Street firms, not ordinary buyers, are responsible for the spike. The private equity company Blackstone Group, for example, has bought 26,000 homes in nine states. Firms temporarily rent out the homes, then sell after prices rise. [The New York Times]

………………………………………………………………………………

3. PROSECUTORS BLAME STEVE JOBS IN E-BOOK CASE

Trying to prove that Apple conspired to drive up e-book prices leading up to the release of the iPad in 2010, federal prosecutors called Steve Jobs the "chief ringleader" of the operation. Apple attorneys called foul, pointing out that Jobs is not around to answer questions and put his emails into context. One excerpt from an email from Steve Jobs to News Corp. executive James Murdoch says, "Heck, Amazon is selling these books at $9.99, and who knows maybe they are right and we will fail even at $12.99. But we're willing to try at the prices we proposed. We are not willing to try at higher prices, because we are pretty sure we'll all fail." [The Washington Post]

………………………………………………………………………………

4. LULULEMON RESTOCKS OPAQUE YOGA PANTS

After pulling 17 percent of its yoga pants from shelves in March after complaints that they could be seen through, Lululemon has started restocking two of the three offending styles. Though stocks took a dip at the time of the recall, the damage appears to have been short-lived: Stocks are up 15 percent since March 15, just before the debacle. Lululemon has since changed protocols for its fabrics' weight, stretch, and tolerances. [Wall Street Journal]

………………………………………………………………………………

5. OBAMA ADMINISTRATION REBUKES PATENT TROLLS

On Tuesday, the Obama administration asked the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to take new measures to limit the number of patent-related lawsuits that have been crowding up the court system. To prevent "patent trolls" from creating shell companies to obscure their identities, the government will require plaintiffs to disclose who will ultimately benefit from the lawsuit. The government will also educate small investors on how to deal with patent trolls, which hold patents and make a profit from suing other companies. [CNN]