The company reported a net loss attributable to common shareholders of $203.2 million compared with $46.3 million a year earlier. Roblox’s revenue – based on its earlier definition of the metric – jumped 68% to $588.7 million for the first nine months of 2020. The company ended up switching gears and said it would look to go public through a direct listing instead of an initial public offering (IPO). Roblox told employees in December it had put the listing off until 2021 as it worked with advisers to improve the process to benefit employees and investors. This is not the first delay to the listing plans. “It will, however, take us some time to update this change in our financial statements,” he said. “By adopting that accounting position, our revenue will actually be a bit higher, while bookings, DAUs (daily active users), hours of engagement, and cash flow will not change,” founder and chief executive David Baszucki said in the memo to staff. The SEC wants Roblox to be more specific and recognise revenue on consumable products as they are consumed, while the durable services will still be recognised over the life of the Roblox user, the memo said.

Roblox had looked to treat all the revenue the same and gradually write it off over the duration of its paying user accounts, which is around two years.

Players use Robux in the game to buy a mix of durable goods which last for a period of time and consumable goods which are used immediately.

Read more: Top Glove joins Reddit surge as GameStop reboundsīut the SEC has reservations over the way in which Roblox recognises revenue from the sale of its currency, Robux, on its platform, according to a memo the company sent to employees on Thursday. Roblox’s valuation skyrocketed to $29.5 billion in a fundraising round earlier this month, more than seven times the $4 billion the company was valued at 11 months earlier, amid a surge in the popularity of video games during the Covid-19 pandemic. The company had said in a regulatory filing earlier this month that it was aiming to list shares on the New York Stock Exchange in February.

The delay is a setback for one of the most eagerly-anticipated US public market debuts of 2021. Roblox Corp has postponed plans to go public because of the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s scrutiny of how the video game platform recognises revenue in its finances.

Roblox ipo delayed