FACTBOX-Kids gaming platform Roblox gets ready for stock market launch

The listing, which cashes in on a lockdown boom in video game sales and online spending, would value the company at as much as $8 billion, according to sources familiar with the discussions. Here are some key facts behind one of the world's biggest online games phenomena: ** Roblox is among the world's most popular gaming sites for children, with an estimated 150 million monthly active users as of July. ** The game targets younger kids and, like "Minecraft", "Fortnite" or "Apex Legends", has seen a huge surge in usage from kids locked in their homes this year by the coronavirus pandemic.

Hugely popular kids gaming platform Roblox is preparing for a U.S. stock market listing early next year, Reuters reported on Thursday. The listing, which cashes in on a lockdown boom in video game sales and online spending, would value the company at as much as $8 billion, according to sources familiar with the discussions.

Here are some key facts behind one of the world's biggest online games phenomena: ** Roblox is among the world's most popular gaming sites for children, with an estimated 150 million monthly active users as of July.

** The game targets younger kids and, like "Minecraft", "Fortnite" or "Apex Legends", has seen a huge surge in usage from kids locked in their homes this year by the coronavirus pandemic. ** Two-thirds of all U.S. kids between 9 and 12 years old use Roblox, and it's played by a third of all Americans under the age of 16, Roblox told Bloomberg in April (https://bloom.bg/3il07m5).

** The company makes most of its revenue from in-game purchases of "Robux" by kids, who then buy profiles, outfits and upgrades with the credits. ** Roblox does not make its financial records public but industry monitor Sensor Tower estimates that its mobile app made a record $113 million in sales in May.

** Roblox Mobile has generated 428.7 million downloads to date and has raked in nearly $2 billion in player spending, Sensortower data shows. ** Roblox Chief Business Officer Craig Donato told CNBC in April that usage surged 40% in March from February. The app trails only YouTube in terms of the biggest money makers on Apple's iOS system, according to another industry monitor, AppAnnie (https://cnb.cx/3cSczZe).

** Roblox has faced claims that it was not doing enough to moderate content on the site, according to a NBC News report (https://nbcnews.to/2ETUyxh) ** A report by tech website Fast Company earlier this year said Roblox employed 1,600 full-time moderators. By comparison, Facebook, which has over 2.7 billion monthly active users as of June, employed 25,000 moderators. (https://bit.ly/2GbHEeN)

** For its stock market listing, Roblox is weighing whether to go public through a traditional IPO or a direct listing, sources have told Reuters. ** Earlier this year, Roblox raised $150 million from venture capital investors including Andreessen Horowitz, at a valuation of $4 billion.