It is nearly impossible to argue that Roblox’s growth was sufficient to support it, especially as the company still is not profitable. But the gap in valuation between $4 billion and nearly $30 billion is massive. The company now claims 31 million daily active users, up from the 17.6 million it cited in its 2019 prospectus. CNBC reported that its third quarter revenue jumped 91% compared to the third quarter of 2019. Earlier this month, Roblox was valued at $29.5 billion, a huge jump compared to a valuation of $4 billion last February.ĭid Roblox benefit from vast swaths of people, including its target audience, being forced to stay home more in 2020? Absolutely. This method, employed by other tech companies including Spotify and Slack, allows stakeholders and employees to sell stock to new investors right away. After pushing the offering back, the company now says it is planning a direct listing in February instead. It had first scheduled an initial public offering for December. Roblox is a private company, but it announced plans to go public last year. This explains why, though the game has been available since 2006, it has grown by leaps and bounds in the past 12 months. Because of Roblox’s format, it has often served as a virtual hangout spot for kids kept apart by pandemic precautions. The platform itself is free, but the company generates revenue through in-game purchases conducted with an in-game currency called “Robux.” These allow users to secure perks such as greater customization or virtual pets.

In Roblox, players explore a virtual world where they can build their own games or play games from third party developers. In fact, as of July 2020, the company told The Verge that more than half of U.S. Readers who aren’t parents may have escaped Roblox’s domination, but anyone with someone in the house under age 18 is unlikely to have missed it.

Even so, investors should be wary of throwing in with the tide of youthful enthusiasm. Roblox has conquered many American kids’ computers and smartphones.

Photo by Henry Burrows, licensed under CC BY-SA

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