Roblox, the massive virtual online sandbox that has attracted millions of daily users in recent years, will officially go public through a direct listing of its shares on the New York Stock Exchange on March 10.
The California-based Roblox company originally planned to go public late last fall through an IPO, but it canceled those plans and instead raised $520 million in funding from private investors at a valuation of $29.5 billion. Roblox originally released back in 2006 for the PC, but the platform did not begin to reach its current level of popularity until recently.
In August 2019, Roblox surpassed Minecraft in monthly active player counts. The game’s popularity continued to surge to new heights after the COVID-19 pandemic, as the company reported in July 2020 that more than half of children aged 16 and under in the United States play the game.
Roblox's surge in player counts led to an increase in revenue in 2020. The company reported that revenue grew 82% that year, from $508.4 million in 2019 to $923.9 million in 2020. This information makes it seem like the perfect time for the company to go public, as it has confirmed that its shareholders will sell shares through a direct listing, though the company itself will not raise new money. This is a shift from its original plan of going public through an IPO. Roblox will trade on the NY Stock Exchange under the name RBLX.
For those who are unfamiliar, Roblox functions as a sandbox game where users can either create their own games or play the games that others have created. The game is free, but makes its revenue through an in-game currency called Robux. Players use the currency to purchase games created by other users, which in turn generates money for users who created those games. Roblox keeps 30% of the revenue for itself. According to the company, more than 1.25 million developers earned Robux on the platform.
Thanks to its accessibility and colorful graphics, Roblox has become one of the most popular games among children. The game’s creators have capitalized on this by releasing content geared towards children, such as how it hosted a Lil Nas X concert last fall. Its popularity is reflected in its games and user counts, as the company revealed that as of December 31, 2020, there were more than 20 million user-created experiences on the platform. It also reported that daily active users rose from an average of 17.6 million in 2019 to 32.6 million in 2020.
But despite Roblox's recent success, it still faces financial problems. Even though revenue grew in 2020, the company lost $253.3 million the same year from an increase in expenses on infrastructure, marketing, research, and development. That is an increase over 2019, when the company lost $71 million.
Roblox is available on Mobile, PC, and Xbox One.
Source: Venture Beat