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Roblox, on its public market debut on Wednesday, surged into a live list as investors demanded a piece of the online gaming platform that had garnered the loyalty of the youngest players.
Roblox began trading under the ticker symbol "(NYSE: RBLX)", at $ 65, well above its reference price of $ 45 a share set by the New York Stock Exchange Tuesday night, as the company was valued at $ 39 billion. Shares are up 47% from the reference price right after their opening.
Roblox is a free platform that offers games created by its users - most of them are under the age of 13, who receive a commission of around 24% on all Robux, which is an in-game virtual currency, spent on their game.
During the shutdowns due to the Covid-19 virus, activity on the platform grew, with the number of hours spent on the app doubled by players to 30.6 billion.
The number of daily active users increased 85% in 2020 to 32.6 million faster than the 48% growth rate seen in 2019. The number of daily paying users reached 490,000 users in 2020, an increase of 166%.
However, the increase in growth came at a cost as the company paid about $ 328.7 million in fees to game creators, an increase of nearly 200% from 2019, resulting in a net loss of $ 253.3 million.
That was larger than the net loss of $ 88.1 million and $ 71.0 million in 2018 and 2019, respectively.
"We also expect our operating expenses to increase significantly in future periods, and if our DAU growth does not increase to compensate for these expected increases in operating expenses, ... our results and financial condition will be affected, and we may not be able to achieve or maintain profitability."
With the stimulus package passed, the Dow Jones rose by more than 500 points.
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In our weekly US stocks report, analysts said that the stock is expected to perform well as it begins trading.
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