Roblox reports strong Q2 2024 as CFO steps down

Roblox CFO Michael Guthrie is stepping down.

Guthrie, who has worked at Roblox since 2018 and played a key role in the company's 2021 stock market listing, will stay on until a replacement is selected, after which he will leave to devote more time to his personal interests.

The numbers

For the three months ended June 30, 2024:

  • Revenue: $893.5 million, up 31% from the same period last year
  • Reservations: $955.2 million, 22% more than the same period last year
  • DAU: 79.5 million, up 21% year-on-year
  • Hours worked: 17.4 billion, 24% more than in the same period of the previous year

The interesting aspects

News of Guthrie's departure caused a brief shock to the stock market, sending shares down 4% despite a solid second-quarter performance that beat estimates following higher user engagement (gamers aged 13 and older rose 30%) and increased consumer spending.

Reservations also rose 22% year-over-year to $955.2 million. Roblox has since revised its full-year bookings guidance from $4 billion to a range between $4.18 billion and $4.23 billion.

Bookings are expected in the third quarter of between $1 billion and $1.3 billion.

“The combination of strong revenue growth, fixed cost discipline and reduced capital expenditures enabled us to generate significantly higher cash flow in the second quarter of 2024 than in the second quarter of 2023,” Guthrie said.

“Net cash and cash equivalents generated by operating activities were $151.4 million in the second quarter of 2024, up 433% from $28.4 million in the second quarter of 2023. Free cash flow for the quarter was $111.6 million, an increase of $207.1 million from free cash flow of $(95.5) million in the second quarter of 2023,” said Michael Guthrie, Chief Financial Officer of Roblox.

“Our strong second quarter growth across all key metrics is driven by high-quality, diverse content,” added CEO David Baszucki.

“As a user-generated content platform, we support a large and engaged community of creators that continues to thrive. Roblox's vibrant content ecosystem is unique, and our platform continues to attract users of all ages from around the world. Going forward, we will continue to invest in our core platform to help our creator community create better, safer experiences and reach more people.”

Last week, we reported that Roblox reported more than 13,000 incidents of child exploitation to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in 2023, and around 24 predators were arrested for grooming and abusing victims on the hugely popular social gaming platform in the US.

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