Roblox, a gaming platform last valued at $29.5 billion in the private sector, is going public Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange in another highly-anticipated debut for the booming online gaming space.
The stock was priced at $45, opened at $64.50, and was trading above $70 in the early going.
The company's proprietary game engine gives users the ability to create their own properties without learning to code. It then sells those user-made games on its popular app and shares 30 percent of the revenue from virtual purchases with creators.
Roblox paid $328.7 million to developers in 2020, up almost 200 percent from the year prior. Notably, more than half of the company's users are under the age of 13.
Craig Donato, chief business officer at the company, told Cheddar that the model thrives on the diversity of gaming experiences created by the global user base.
"You can think of Roblox as a universe made up of millions of immersive experiences that people can enjoy with their friends," he said. "So, you can be a star in a fashion show. You can DJ a beach party. You can snowboard down a mountain or build your own amusement park."
He added that eight million people around the world are contributing content to Roblox.
The way the model works is that Roblox sells players in-game currency called Robux, which players can then use to make in-game virtual purchases such as new skins for their avatars or other virtual features With the introduction of Premium Payouts in 2019, more than 1,250 developers earned at least $10,000 in Robux for their work. (The digital currency can be converted into cash.) The company anticipates more hefty payouts going forward.
After accounting for costs, Donato said the revenue-split with creators is closer to 50-50.
He noted that while the user base is still overwhelmingly young, older teenagers are its fastest-growing segment.
"Our players are very much growing up with us," he said.
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A Michigan judge is putting sponges in the hands of shoplifters and ordering them to wash cars in a Walmart parking lot when spring weather arrives. Genesee County Judge Jeffrey Clothier hopes the unusual form of community service discourages people from stealing from Walmart. The judge also wants to reward shoppers with free car washes. Clothier says he began ordering “Walmart wash” sentences this week for shoplifting at the store in Grand Blanc Township. He believes 75 to 100 people eventually will be ordered to wash cars this spring. Clothier says he will be washing cars alongside them when the time comes.
The State Department had been in talks with Elon Musk’s Tesla company to buy armored electric vehicles, but the plans have been put on hold by the Trump administration after reports emerged about a potential $400 million purchase. A State Department spokesperson said the electric car company owned by Musk was the only one that expressed interest back in May 2024. The deal with Tesla was only in its planning phases but it was forecast to be the largest contract of the year. It shows how some of his wealth has come and was still expected to come from taxpayers.
At 100 years old, the Goodyear Blimp is an ageless star in the sky. The 246-foot-long airship will be in the background of the Daytona 500 — flying roughly 1,500 feet above Daytona International Speedway, actually — to celebrate its greatest anniversary tour. Even though remote camera technologies are improving regularly and changing the landscape of aerial footage, the blimp continues to carve out a niche. At Daytona, with the usual 40-car field racing around a 2½-mile superspeedway, views from the blimp aptly provide the scope of the event.
You'll just have to wait for interest rates (and prices) to go down. Plus, this deal's a steel, the big carmaker wedding is off, and bribery is back, baby!
