Roblox revives plans to go public, reveals widening losses

Roblox revives plans to go public, reveals widening losses
FILE PHOTO:The spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Manchester

(Reuters) – Video game platform Roblox Corp on Monday revived plans to go public and revealed bigger losses in the last year, ahead of one of the highly anticipated stock market debuts of 2021.

The company had postponed plans to go public through a direct listing because of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s scrutiny of how it recognizes revenue in its finances, Reuters reported in January.

The delay was a setback for Roblox and came after the company last year put off listing until 2021 as it worked with advisers to improve the process to benefit employees and investors.

The company ended up switching gears and said it would look to go public through a direct listing instead of an initial public offering.

Roblox, which expects its shares to start trading on the New York Stock Exchange on March 10, said its net loss attributable to common stockholders stood at $253.3 million for the year ended Dec. 31, compared with a loss of around $71 million a year earlier, it said in its regulatory filing. (https://bit.ly/3aJllcL)

Revenues, however, surged 82% to $923.9 million in the same period.

Roblox, among the world’s most popular gaming sites for children and which offers a host of games across mobile devices and games consoles, was valued at $29.5 billion in a fundraising round in January.

The company has benefited from a surge in the popularity of video games during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Roblox will list its class A common stock on the NYSE under the symbol “RBLX”.

(Reporting by Noor Zainab Hussain and Niket Nishant in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta and Shailesh Kuber)

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