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A man photographs a Roblox banner displayed, to celebrate the company’s IPO, on the front facade of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, United States, March 10, 2021. REUTERS / Brendan McDermid / Files
Aug 16 (Reuters) – Quarterly bookings from Roblox Corp (RBLX.N) missed market expectations on Monday, as easing restrictions slowed the pandemic-fueled spike in spending for its games, including “Jailbreak” and “MeepCity”, dropping its shares by 5%.
The company, one of the most popular children’s play sites in the world, is a pandemic winner that has benefited from door-to-door orders.
But with the reopening of schools following the rollout of vaccines in the United States, online games have fallen behind as children are now encouraged to resume outdoor activities.
The company’s bookings rose only 35% to $ 665.5 million for the second quarter ended June 30, compared with a 161% increase in bookings in the prior quarter. Analysts had expected $ 683.3 million.
Roblox generates the bulk of its bookings from purchases of “Robux” virtual currency by children, who then use it to improve player avatars by purchasing in-game items such as hats, pets, or coins. accessories.
The company, which offers a slew of titles on mobile devices and game consoles, said average bookings per daily active user were up slightly from the previous year.
The metric is the average amount that users pay per day to play the games and it has increased by 46% in the last quarter compared to the previous year.
In July, it fell 5% to 7% year over year, a clear sign of how people are spending less time on its platform.
The company, listed on the NYSE in March, reports its second quarterly results and has yet to make a profit.
“Roblox suffers from the demands of very aggressive market expectations, combined with the prospect of continued unprofitability in the future,” said John Patrick Lee, ETF product manager at VanEck.
Its net loss attributable to common shareholders widened to $ 140.13 million, or 25 cents per share, from $ 71.5 million, or 40 cents per share, a year earlier.
Report by Tiyashi Datta in Bangalore; Editing by Arun Koyyur
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