Us gaming company Roblox closed up 54.4% on its first day of trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday, valuing the company at $45.2 billion.
Headquartered in San Mateo, California, Roblox is one of the most popular children's game sites in the world, offering a wide range of games on mobile devices and game consoles.
The company's shares opened at $64.50 and closed at $69.47, above the reference price of $45 a share set on Tuesday and based on its trading price in the illiquid private market.
"this is a milestone in a journey that began 15 years ago," Roblox CEO Baszucki said in an interview before the stock began trading.
Baszucki said: "going public can increase the visibility of our company, we can safely show our financial position, we can show the value of what we do."
Based on the closing price, Roblox's valuation, which includes unauthorised stock options and restricted stock, will be fully diluted to $45.2 billion, with a market capitalization of $38.2 billion.
In January, Roblox said it had raised about $520 million in a new H round of private equity, and the deal was fully diluted to a valuation of $29.5 billion, more than seven times the $4 billion valuation of Series G 11 months ago.
"Roblox" will be listed directly instead of traditional IPO. This means that the company will not sell any shares before going public, as IPO did.
Roblox benefited from a surge in demand for video games in the US last year as consumers sought home entertainment in a blockade imposed to curb the spread of the epidemic.
"We hope that the epidemic will end as soon as possible. At the same time, we see that Roblox was used to bring people together during the COVID-19 epidemic, "Baszucki said.
Baszucki says it is expanding into other countries and is also wooing older users to break through the stage where there will be more users over the age of 13 than those under the age of 13.
Goldman Sachs Group、 Morgan Stanley、 JPMorgan Chase & Co, Allen Company, Bank of America CorporationSecurities and Royal Bank of CanadaThe capital market is the financial adviser for the listing of Roblox.