Roblox reports strong Q2 2024 as CFO steps down

gamesindustry.biz:

Roblox CFO Michael Guthrie is stepping down.

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

For the three months ended June 30, 2024:

News of Guthrie's departure caused a brief stock market shock, sending shares tumbling 4% despite an otherwise strong Q2 performance that exceeded estimates following higher user engagement – players age 13+ increased by 30% – and greater consumer spending.

Bookings also rose 22% YoY to $955.2m. Roblox has since revised its full-year bookings forecast from $4bn to anywhere between $4.18bn to $4.23bn.

Q3 bookings are expected around $1bn to $1.3bn.

“The combination of strong topline growth, fixed cost discipline, and reduced capital expenditures allowed us to deliver significantly more cash flow in Q2 2024 than in Q2 2023," Guthrie said.

"Net cash and cash equivalents provided by operating activities were $151.4 million in Q2 2024, up 433% from $28.4 million in Q2 2023. Free cash flow for the quarter was $111.6 million, an increase of $207.1 million over free cash flow of $(95.5) million in Q2 2023,” said Michael Guthrie, chief financial officer of Roblox."

"Our strong Q2 growth across all core metrics is driven by diverse and high quality content," added CEO David Baszucki.

"As a UGC platform, we support a large and motivated creator community that continues to thrive. The dynamic Roblox content ecosystem is unique and our platform continues to attract users of all ages from across the globe. Going forward, we will continue to invest in our core platform to help our creator community build better and safer experiences and reach more people."

Last week, we reported that Roblox reported over 13,000 incidents of child exploitation to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in 2023, with around 24 predators arrested for grooming and abusing victims on