The massively popular online game-building game Roblox is going to toss its hat into the stock market ring. The company has officially filed an initial public offering (IPO) with the US Securities and Exchange Commission under the suggested ticker name RBLX.
In addition to going public on the stock market, the filing has unveiled a number of financial details from the past three years, with $312 million in revenue in 2018, $488 million in 2019, and $589 million for the nine months ending September 30th, 2020, an increase of 68% from the same time last year. With all that said, Roblox has been experiencing net losses: $97.2 million in 2018, $86 million in 2019, and currently $203 million for the nine months ending September 30, 2020, in spite of massive numbers of unique users and revenue.
As is common in IPO filings, Roblox’s filing points out a number of risks such as seasonality, dependence on online networks, and the effects of COVID-19. In addition, there are other specific risks outlined by the company, noting that its rapid growth may not be indicative of its future trajectory, that the company expects to continue to incur net losses in the near future, and that it may not be able to be profitable. “If our DAU growth does not increase to offset these anticipated increases in our operating expenses, our business, results of operations, and financial condition will be harmed, and we may not be able to achieve or maintain profitability,” reads part of the filing.
Still, there’s no reason to panic; as VentureBeat points out, Unity’s IPO managed to raise over a billion bucks this past fall in spite of losing money, and its stock value just keeps increasing.
