Roblox Reports First Quarter 2024 Financial Results
SAN MATEO, Calif. , May 09 /Businesswire/ - Roblox Corporation (NYSE: RBLX), a global platform bringing millions of people together through shared experiences, released its first quarter 2024 financial and operational results and issued its second quarter and updated full year 2024 guidance today. Separately, Roblox posted a letter to shareholders and supplemental materials on the Roblox investor relations website at ir.roblox.com.
First Quarter 2024 Financial, Operational, and Liquidity Highlights
- Revenue was $801.3 million, up 22% year-over-year.
- Bookings1 were $923.8 million, up 19% year-over-year.
- Net loss attributable to common stockholders was $270.6 million, while consolidated net loss was $271.9 million.
- Adjusted EBITDA1 was $(6.9) million, which excludes adjustments for increases in deferred revenue and deferred cost of revenue of $127.6 million and $(32.9) million, respectively.
- Net cash and cash equivalents provided by operating activities was $238.9 million, up 37% year-over-year, while free cash flow1 was $191.1 million, up 133% year-over-year.
- Average Daily Active Users (“DAUs”) were 77.7 million, up 17% year-over-year.
- Average monthly unique payers were 15.6 million, up 13% year-over-year, and average bookings per monthly unique payer was $19.68, up 6% year-over-year.
- Hours engaged (“Hours”) were 16.7 billion, up 15% year-over-year.
- Average bookings per DAU was $11.89, up 2% year-over-year.
- Net liquidity2 was $2.5 billion.
“Our teams have been hard at work identifying opportunities to drive DAUs, Hours, and bookings growth rates back to 20% year-over-year. We began experimenting with changes in our AI-driven discovery algorithm and the positioning of various content types on the Homepage. We reintroduced platform-wide events like The Hunt: First Edition. And, we continued to improve the quality and performance of our app and experiences. Based on results since the middle of April, we believe that these steps are yielding positive results,” said David Baszucki, founder and CEO of Roblox.
“We are operating more efficiently. Over the past three quarters we have reduced certain infrastructure and trust and safety expenditures, and we have reduced the growth rate of personnel costs (excluding stock-based compensation expense) by holding headcount flat. Capital expenditures are down nearly 50% in Q1 2024 compared to last year. As a result, this past quarter we produced record amounts of operating and free cash flow,” said Michael Guthrie, chief financial officer of Roblox.
“Finally, we will no longer refer to Covenant Adjusted EBITDA in our shareholder letters and earnings press releases though we will calculate it in the liquidity sections of our Forms 10-Q and 10-K. We will continue to report and guide to Adjusted EBITDA which excludes adjustments for the change in deferred revenue and deferred cost of revenue. We will also report and guide to the changes in deferred revenue and deferred cost of revenue,” Guthrie continued.
1 |
Bookings, Adjusted EBITDA, and free cash flow are non-GAAP financial measures that we believe are useful in evaluating our performance and are presented for supplemental information purposes only and should not be considered in isolation from, or as a substitute for, financial information presented in accordance with GAAP. For further information, please refer to definitions and reconciliations provided below and our annual and quarterly SEC filings. |
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2 |
Net liquidity represents cash and cash equivalents, short-term investments, and long-term investments, less long-term debt, net. |
Forward Looking Guidance3
Roblox provides its second quarter and updated full year 2024 GAAP and non-GAAP guidance:
Second Quarter 2024 Guidance
- Revenue between $855 million and $880 million.
- Bookings between $870 million and $900 million.
- Consolidated net loss between $(267) million and $(265) million.
-
Adjusted EBITDA between $36 million and $38 million, which excludes adjustments for:
- Increase in deferred revenue between $18 million and $23 million.
- Increase in deferred cost of revenue between $(7) million and $(9) million.
- The total of these changes in deferrals between $11 million and $14 million.
- Net cash and cash equivalents provided by operating activities between $61 million and $68 million.
- Capital expenditures and purchases of intangible assets of approximately $(45) million.
- Free cash flow between $16 million and $23 million.
Updated Full Year 2024 Guidance
- Revenue between $3,450 million and $3,525 million.
- Bookings between $4,000 million and $4,100 million.
- Consolidated net loss between $(1,096) million and $(1,044) million.
-
Adjusted EBITDA between $95 million and $147 million, which excludes adjustments for:
- Increase in deferred revenue between $568 million and $593 million.
- Increase in deferred cost of revenue between $(133) million and $(140) million.
- The total of these changes in deferrals between $435 million and $453 million.
- Net cash and cash equivalents provided by operating activities between $530 million and $600 million.
- Capital expenditures and purchases of intangible assets of approximately $(180) million.
- Free cash flow between $350 million and $420 million.
Earnings Q&A Session
Roblox will host a live Q&A session to answer questions regarding its first quarter 2024 results on Thursday, May 9, 2024 at 5:30 a.m. Pacific Time/8:30 a.m. Eastern Time. The webcast will be open to the public at ir.roblox.com or by clicking here.
3 |
Beginning April 1, 2024, the estimated average lifetime of a payer changed from 28 months to 27 months, which is reflected in our second quarter and updated full year 2024 GAAP and non-GAAP guidance. Based on the carrying amount of deferred revenue and deferred cost of revenue as of March 31, 2024, the April 1, 2024 change in estimated average lifetime of a payer will result in an increase in revenue and cost of revenue of $58.9 million and $12.4 million, respectively, during the second quarter of 2024 and an increase in revenue and cost of revenue of $98.0 million and $20.4 million, respectively, during the full year 2024. Refer to “Basis of Presentation and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies — Revenue Recognition” as described in the Company’s consolidated financial statements and related notes included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for further background on the Company’s process to estimate the average lifetime of a payer. |
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the “safe harbor” provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including but not limited to, statements regarding our vision to connect one billion global DAUs, our efforts to improve the Roblox Platform, our immersive and video advertising efforts, including our ads manager and independent measurement partnerships, our efforts regarding content curation, live operations and platform-wide events, our efforts regarding real-world shopping, the use of artificial intelligence (“AI”) on our platform,, our economy and product efforts related to creator earnings and platform monetization, our sponsored experiences, branding and new partnerships and our roadmap with respect to each, our business, product, strategy and user growth, our investment strategy, including our opportunities for and expectations of improvements in financial and operating metrics, including operating leverage, margin, free cash flow, operating expenses and capital expenditures, our expectation of successfully executing such strategies and plans, disclosures regarding the seasonality of our business, disclosures and future growth rates, benefits from agreements with third-party cloud providers, disclosures about our infrastructure efficiency initiatives, changes to our estimated average lifetime of a paying user and the resulting effect on revenue, cost of revenue, deferred revenue and deferred cost of revenue, our expectations of future net losses and net cash and cash equivalents provided by operating activities, statements by our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, and our outlook and guidance for second quarter and full year 2024, and future periods. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date they were first issued and were based on current plans, expectations, estimates, forecasts, and projections as well as the beliefs and assumptions of management. Words such as “expect,” “vision,” “envision,” “evolving,” “drive,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “maintain,” “should,” “believe,” “continue,” “plan,” “goal,” “opportunity,” “estimate,” “predict,” “may,” “will,” “could,” and “would,” and variations of these terms or the negative of these terms and similar expressions are intended to identify these forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which involve factors or circumstances that are beyond our control. Our actual results could differ materially from those stated or implied in forward-looking statements due to a number of factors, including but not limited to risks detailed in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), including our annual reports on Form 10-K, our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and other filings and reports we make with the SEC from time to time. In particular, the following factors, among others, could cause results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements: our ability to successfully execute our business and growth strategy; the sufficiency of our cash and cash equivalents to meet our liquidity needs, including the repayment of our senior notes; the demand for our platform in general; our ability to retain and increase our number of users, developers, and creators; the impact of inflation and global economic conditions on our operations; the impact of changing legal and regulatory requirements on our business, including the use of verified parental consent; our ability to develop enhancements to our platform, and bring them to market in a timely manner; our ability to develop and protect our brand and build new partnerships; any misuse of user data or other undesirable activity by third parties on our platform; our ability to maintain the security and availability of our platform; our ability to detect and minimize unauthorized use of our platform; and the impact of AI on our platform, users, creators, and developers. Additional information regarding these and other risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from our expectations is included in the reports we have filed or will file with the SEC, including our annual reports on Form 10-K and our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q.
The forward-looking statements included in this press release represent our views as of the date of this press release. We anticipate that subsequent events and developments will cause our views to change. However, we undertake no intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing our views as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release.
ROBLOX CORPORATION CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS (in thousands, except par values) (unaudited) |
|||||||
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As of |
||||||
|
March 31, 2024 |
|
December 31, 2023 |
||||
Assets |
|
|
|
||||
Current assets: |
|
|
|
||||
Cash and cash equivalents |
$ |
866,414 |
|
|
$ |
678,466 |
|
Short-term investments |
|
1,543,819 |
|
|
|
1,514,808 |
|
Accounts receivable—net of allowances |
|
331,677 |
|
|
|
505,769 |
|
Prepaid expenses and other current assets |
|
88,537 |
|
|
|
74,549 |
|
Deferred cost of revenue, current portion |
|
525,570 |
|
|
|
501,821 |
|
Total current assets |
|
3,356,017 |
|
|
|
3,275,413 |
|
Long-term investments |
|
1,059,246 |
|
|
|
1,043,399 |
|
Property and equipment—net |
|
691,292 |
|
|
|
695,360 |
|
Operating lease right-of-use assets |
|
715,501 |
|
|
|
665,107 |
|
Deferred cost of revenue, long-term |
|
292,509 |
|
|
|
283,326 |
|
Intangible assets, net |
|
47,938 |
|
|
|
53,060 |
|
Goodwill |
|
141,956 |
|
|
|
142,129 |
|
Other assets |
|
10,212 |
|
|
|
10,284 |
|
Total assets |
$ |
6,314,671 |
|
|
$ |
6,168,078 |
|
Liabilities and Stockholders’ equity |
|
|
|
||||
Current liabilities: |
|
|
|
||||
Accounts payable |
$ |
49,078 |
|
|
$ |
60,087 |
|
Accrued expenses and other current liabilities |
|
273,649 |
|
|
|
271,121 |
|
Developer exchange liability |
|
292,676 |
|
|
|
314,866 |
|
Deferred revenue—current portion |
|
2,513,339 |
|
|
|
2,406,292 |
|
Total current liabilities |
|
3,128,742 |
|
|
|
3,052,366 |
|
Deferred revenue—net of current portion |
|
1,393,807 |
|
|
|
1,373,250 |
|
Operating lease liabilities |
|
693,815 |
|
|
|
646,506 |
|
Long-term debt, net |
|
1,005,338 |
|
|
|
1,005,000 |
|
Other long-term liabilities |
|
30,282 |
|
|
|
22,330 |
|
Total liabilities |
|
6,251,984 |
|
|
|
6,099,452 |
|
Stockholders’ equity |
|
|
|
||||
Common stock, $0.0001 par value; 5,000,000 authorized as of March 31, 2024 and December 31, 2023, 639,734 and 631,221 shares issued and outstanding as of March 31, 2024 and December 31, 2023, respectively; Class A common stock—4,935,000 shares authorized as of March 31, 2024 and December 31, 2023, 591,056 and 581,135 shares issued and outstanding as of March 31, 2024 and December 31, 2023, respectively; Class B common stock—65,000 shares authorized as of March 31, 2024 and December 31, 2023, 48,678 and 50,086 shares issued and outstanding as of March 31, 2024 and December 31, 2023, respectively |
|
61 |
|
|
|
61 |
|
Additional paid-in capital |
|
3,407,986 |
|
|
|
3,134,946 |
|
Accumulated other comprehensive income/(loss) |
|
(5,589 |
) |
|
|
1,536 |
|
Accumulated deficit |
|
(3,330,857 |
) |
|
|
(3,060,253 |
) |
Total Roblox Corporation Stockholders’ equity |
|
71,601 |
|
|
|
76,290 |
|
Noncontrolling interests |
|
(8,914 |
) |
|
|
(7,664 |
) |
Total Stockholders’ equity |
|
62,687 |
|
|
|
68,626 |
|
Total Liabilities and Stockholders’ equity |
$ |
6,314,671 |
|
|
$ |
6,168,078 |
|
ROBLOX CORPORATION CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS (in thousands, except per share amounts) (unaudited) |
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|
Three Months Ended |
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|
March 31, |
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|
|
2024 |
|
|
|
2023 |
|
Revenue |
$ |
801,300 |
|
|
$ |
655,344 |
|
Cost and expenses: |
|
|
|
||||
Cost of revenue(1) |
|
178,866 |
|
|
|
151,841 |
|
Developer exchange fees |
|
202,405 |
|
|
|
182,440 |
|
Infrastructure and trust & safety |
|
226,934 |
|
|
|
211,044 |
|
Research and development |
|
362,065 |
|
|
|
275,537 |
|
General and administrative |
|
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