Roblox, an online video game development and interactive co-experience platform, filed an amendment on Friday to register its shares with the SEC and complete a direct listing on the NYSE. The company will not raise new capital as the Class A shares listed will be sold by existing shareholders. Roblox originally filed in November 2020 for a traditional IPO that we estimated could have raised up to $1 billion.
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The Registered Stockholders plan to sell up to 197 million Class A shares.
In January 2021, roughly 12 million shares were sold in a Series H round at $45 per share. If the company listed its shares at $45, Roblox would command a fully diluted market value of $27.6 billion.
The company is building a human co-experience gaming platform that enables shared experiences among millions of online users worldwide. The Roblox human co-experience platform consists of the Roblox Client, the Roblox Studio, and the Roblox Cloud, which together allow for the interactive creation and exploration of 3D digital worlds, games, and experiences.
None of the company's shareholders will be subject to the standard 180-day lock-up agreement found in most IPOs.
Roblox will be the first direct listing of 2021, following the three that were completed in 2020: Asana (ASAN; +50% from reference price; +10% from first-day close), Palantir (PLTR; +248%; +165%), and Thryv Holdings (THRY; +33%; +22%).
Roblox was founded in 2004 and booked $727 million in revenue for the 12 months ended September 30, 2020. It plans to list on the NYSE under the symbol RBLX. As a direct listing without a firm commitment offering, there are no underwriters on the deal; instead, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley will serve as financial advisors. Both were set to be underwriters on the company's IPO.
