Notes

Roblox Opens for Public Access and is Instantly Worth more than $45 billion

Roblox reported revenue of close to $925 million last year which was up 82% over 2019. Roblox also announced earlier this month that sales are expected to increase by 60%, from $1.44 billion to $0.52 billion.



No slowdown in sight for IPOs or SPACs



Roblox was home to 32.6 Million Active Users Daily at the end of 2020. The company expects to have 34.6 to 36.4 Million users by 2021.



The majority of the company's players are youngsters 13 and under. But Baszucki said that the company is approaching a point where most of its players will not be tweens. He noted that the demographic of 17-24 year-old Roblox users is growing quickly.



But Roblox noted in its paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission that having such a small user base will lead to more scrutiny of the platform.



"The increased use of interactive entertainment offerings like ours by consumers, including younger ones, could result in calls for more rigorous consumer protection laws and regulations that could put additional pressure on companies like ours," Roblox said.



This means that Roblox has to ensure that the game stays safe for minors playing it and that privacy rules are strictly implemented. Roblox also has safeguards in place to make sure that users of a younger age don't overspend on Robux.



Baszucki was elated about the launch of the stock market He added that it's beneficial for investors who have a long-term view and employees of Roblox, which was established in 2004 to share in the financial success of the company's success.



Roblox listed shares directly on the New York Stock Exchange as opposed to issuing new stock in an initial public offering. The NYSE had set a reference price of $45 a share for the stock.



Spotify (SPOT), Slack (WORK) (which is on the verge of being bought by Salesforce (CRM)) and Palantir all went public via direct listings as well.



"A direct listing was natural to us. It brings everyone together and everyone is using the same price at the opening of trading," Baszucki said.



How Roblox became the most popular game for tweens -- and a huge business



What's next for this company now that it is publicly traded?



Roblox is still not profitable. It lost more than $253 million in 2020, which is up from a loss of $71 million the year before.



Baszucki stated that the company will try to increase sales through advertising. He said that it would be organic. https://isrse37.org/ For example, users can pay to get Nike shoes in Roblox, as opposed to large billboards for Air Jordan in Roblox.



"The small amounts of advertising we've been doing is authentic and immersive," Baszucki told CNN Business.



Baszucki who uses Roblox under the name builderman, said that he's not worried about Roblox becoming a fad and losing its popularity.



He also said that the game has continued to grow in popularity even as gamers have other options such as Minecraft, Fortnite and the increasingly popular Among Us to play during their down time.



Roblox is among a growing number of so-called "unicorn" companies that have gone public in the past few months. They include Poshmark and Airbnb in addition to Bumble and Poshmark. Gaming software company Unity also went public in September and its stock has nearly doubled since then.



Instacart and Coinbase are among the most anticipated debuts of stock markets this year. Robinhood is also expected to debut later in the year.


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