Online game-platform operator Roblox has picked a new date for entering the public market. The company will now resell 199 million shares of stock on March 10.
Roblox originally planned to enter the market in December 2020. The filing was pushed to January 2021 when the initial public offerings (IPO) of home rental company Airbnb (ABNB 2.17%) and food delivery specialist DoorDash (DASH 2.00%) made a big splash. The debut was then postponed again as the Securities and Exchange Commission launched a review of the company's accounting practices.
Image source: Roblox.
Instead of a traditional IPO, Roblox has elected to sell shares directly on the public market without the assistance of underwriters. The company will consult its financial advisors at Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, and Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) to set a listing price and set up the required paperwork, but the mega-banks don't get to play the potentially lucrative role of actively setting up the initial trades.
Roblox will be registered with the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol RBLX. The publicly available Class A shares carry one vote each, while a separate Class B stock comes with 20 votes per share. Class B shares will not be available to retail investors, ensuring that 70% of the voting rights stay under the control of Roblox CEO David Baszucki, who holds all of these vote-boosted shares.
