Roblox Closes Its First Day Of Public Trading, Valued At $45 Billion

Roblox finally had its day on the stock market, and it exceeded even the wildest predictions anyone had for the game developer. With shares going for $69.50 apiece, its total valuation came to $45 billion -- 50% more than its expected value of $29.5 billion from just last month and a whopping 11 times its estimated $4 billion value from last year, before the pandemic heavily inflated its numbers.

Unlike the situation with GameStop, though, it might actually be worth that much -- for now, at least. Despite the looming end of the pandemic, CEO David Baszucki said that he doesn't think that the game will lose players when children go back to playing outdoors -- a necessary statement when one is courting public money, but one that's difficult to believe. According to the New York Times, the value of Baszucki's shares was $5.5 billion.

In 2004, we founded @Roblox with the vision of connecting the world. Today, as we celebrate our direct listing on the @NYSE, we recognize the potential ahead of us: to build the platform where billions of people come together to learn, work, and play. #RobloxIPO

— David Baszucki (@DavidBaszucki) March 10, 2021

As Baszucki and Chief Business Officer Craig Donato said at last month's investors' summit, the goal of the company and game is to appeal to a larger, older audience, with events and branded worlds for all to enjoy. Whether it can reach that audience and sustain its meteoric growth -- especially now that it has to, because of its investors -- will be one of the more interesting stories in gaming over the coming years.