Notes

Roblox Goes Public and is Instantly Worth more than $45 Billion

Roblox posted revenue of nearly $925 million last year which was up 82% over 2019. Roblox also stated earlier in the month that sales are expected to rise by 60% to $1.44 billion to $0.52 billion.



There is no sign of a slowdown in sight for SPACs or IPOs



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



The majority of the company’s players are children 13 and under. However, Baszucki stated that the company is approaching the point at which most of its players won't be tweens. Baszucki stated that the Roblox user base is growing rapidly, especially among 17-24-year-olds.



Roblox however, did note in its filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that an influx of new users could result in greater scrutiny of the site.



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



That means that Roblox has to make sure the game stays safe for children who play it and that privacy rules are strictly enforced. Roblox also has security measures in place to make sure that younger users do not spend too much money on Robux.



Baszucki expressed excitement about the stock market debut, adding that it is ideal for long-term investors as well as employees of Roblox which was established in 2004 to take part financially in the company's success.



Roblox listed shares directly on the New York Stock Exchange as instead of releasing new stock in an initial public offering. The stock was subject to an indicative price of $45 per share by the NYSE.



Spotify (SPOT), Slack(WORK) (which is currently being bought by Salesforce (CRM) and Palantir were all made public through direct listings.
Games


"A direct listing seemed natural to us. Baszucki explained that direct listing can bring together all the community and everyone pays the same price at the time of trading.



Roblox How it became the "it" game for teens -- and also a massive business



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



Roblox isn't yet profitable. It lost more than $253 million in 2020, an increase from a loss of $71 million in the previous year.



Baszucki said the company is looking at increasing sales through advertising. He said it will be organic. Users, for example, can pay to wear Nike shoes in the game, as opposed to seeing massive Air Jordan billboards in Roblox.



Baszucki stated to CNN Business that the small amount of advertising they've done is authentic and engaging.



Baszucki who uses Roblox under the name builderman, said that he isn't worried about Roblox becoming a trend and losing its popularity.



He said that the game has continued to gain players even though gamers have other choices like Minecraft, Fortnite and the ever-growingly popular Among Us to play during their free time.



Roblox joins a growing number of so-called "unicorn" companies which have gone public in the past few months. This includes Poshmark and Airbnb, as well as Bumble and Poshmark. Unity, a gaming software company, was listed in September of last year. Its stock has almost doubled in that time.



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


Read More: https://extrema.org/