That valued Roblox at $45 billion, up from $4 billion just over a year ago. The Silicon Valley company closed its first day of trading at $69.50 a share, rising from a reference price of $45 that was set on Tuesday. On Wednesday, the pandemic’s booming effect on gaming was even more starkly on display when Roblox, a gaming platform aimed at children, went public. Sony, which released the PlayStation 5 in November, recently reported a 62 percent profit jump while Microsoft tallied $5 billion in quarterly gaming revenue for the first time, helped by sales of its new Xbox devices. A record $56.9 billion was spent on gaming last year in the United States, up 27 percent from 2019, according to the NPD Group. There is no firm commitment offering, and therefore no underwriters on the deal instead, the company's financial advisors included Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and BofA Securities.When the pandemic forced people indoors a year ago, many passed the time by playing games on their iPhones, building gaming computers and exploring the latest blockbuster titles on their Xbox and PlayStation consoles.įor video game companies, that has meant gushers of cash. Crypto exchange Coinbase ( COIN) filed last month for a direct listing on the Nasdaq. Roblox is the first direct listing of the year, following last year's two major direct listings Palantir ( PLTR) and Asana ( ASAN). Instead, the opening public price will be determined by the designated market maker, using buy and sell orders collected by the NYSE from broker-dealers.

The NYSE reference price does not reflect an offering price, or the opening price for Roblox's shares. The San Mateo, CA-based company plans to list on the NYSE today under the symbol RBLX.

Roblox's reference price is set at $45 ahead of its direct listing, according to the New York Stock Exchange.Īt that price, Roblox would command a fully diluted market value of $29.1 billion.įor IPO news alerts and enhanced stories and profiles, try a free trial of Renaissance Capital's premium platform, IPO Pro.

What will roblox ipo price be