Roblox Corp. RBLX,
set a benchmark price of $ 45 per share on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday, while the teen-oriented gaming platform is preparing to go public through a direct listing on Wednesday.
On the NYSE website, the exchange said the company’s shares will begin trading under the ticker “RBLX” on Wednesday, adding that the reference price is not an offer price, which will be determined by buy and sell orders. collected from brokerage firms.
Reading: Roblox is going public: 5 things to know about the teen-centric gaming platform
Direct listings differ from initial public offerings in that they are not endorsed by subscribers, as current shareholders convert their property into shares based on trading prices in private markets. The company moved into plans for a direct listing of a planned IPO in January, after obtaining a new injection of $ 520 million in venture capital, which valued the company at $ 29.5 billion.
Roblox reported revenue of $ 923.9 million and a loss of $ 257.7 million in 2020, compared to revenue of $ 508.4 million in revenue and a loss of $ 71 million in 2019, and revenue of $ 325 million and a loss of $ 88.1 million in 2018. The company seeks to expand its business by retaining its pre-teen users as they age, while attracting new users in adolescence or adulthood.
In his latest lawsuit, Roblox said that nearly 199 million Class A shares were registered for resale, for a total of about 388.2 million available. Roblox’s public debut has been anticipated since news of an IPO began circulating in October.
The past 12 months have been kind to companies that went public. The Renaissance IPO ETF IPO,
increased by almost 130%, while the S&P 500 SPX index,
rose 41% and the high-tech Composite Nasdaq index,
earned 64%.
More and more companies have opted for direct listings to go public, like Spotify Technology SA SPOT,
Asana Inc. ASAN,
and Palantir Technologies Inc. PLTR,
Groceries delivery company Instacart is considering the direct listing route, while Coinbase Global Inc. has already announced its intentions.