Shares of the Roblox game system collapsed 15%. Spending on security has become a problem

Shares of Roblox game platform fell by 15% in trading on October 30 - after the publication of the quarterly report. Investors were concerned about the company's plans to increase capital expenditures: Roblox warned of a possible decrease in operating margin due to this.

Roblox shares collapsed 15.5% to $113 at the close of trading Thursday. The closing price was the lowest since mid-July. In extended trading after the main session, the securities were growing by about 2%.

Investors have not priced in the company's plans to increase capital expenditures by $158 million from last year's annual forecast, according to CNBC. The platform for game developers said that due to the need to modernize infrastructure and strengthen security measures, capex in 2025 will be $468 million instead of $310 million in the last forecast.

"Our operating margin may decline slightly year-over-year due to a combination of an increase in DevEx rates (the rate at which Robux virtual currency is exchanged into dollars. - Oninvest) and the impact of infrastructure and security-related investments," Roblox said in a letter to shareholders. Increased rates in the Developer Exchange (DevEx) program means an increase in the Robux exchange rate against the dollar, which means an increase in the company's costs, CNBC explains.

The third-quarter report was strong on key metrics: revenue rose 48% year-over-year to $1.36 billion. Bookings increased 70% to $1.92 billion, beating LSEG's forecast of $1.65 billion, CNBC reported. Loss per share was $0.37 versus Wall Street's expected $0.49.

Roblox's average daily audience grew 70% to 151.5 million users. However, average bookings per user (ARPU) were $12.68 - below StreetAccount's expectations ($13.24), CNBC noted. Still, the company raised its full-year forecast for bookings to $6.57-6.62 billion from $5.87-5.97 billion.

Roblox has been forced to increase its focus on child safety amid investigations by government agencies in several countries, growing claims from lawmakers and lawsuits, CNBC reports. Lawsuits have been filed against Roblox, accusing the platform of opening opportunities for sexual exploitation of minors. Thus, the Turkish authorities earlier this year blocked the platform "for reasons of children's safety": the company was criticized for insufficient measures to protect young users from the manipulation of adults through chat rooms in online games.

Roblox CEO David Bezucki told CNBC that security is the company's top priority. Roblox prohibits the transmission of images, all text is filtered, and in July, a system of age verification based on facial scanning was launched. The platform divides users into age categories: under 13, 13-18 and over 18, opening functions like "trusted connections" only to the older groups, CNBC writes.

Roblox shares soared 95% in 2025 (as of the close of trading on Oct. 30). The securities have 35 ratings from analysts: 24 tips to buy (Buy and Overweight), eight recommendations to hold (Hold) and three to sell (Sell and Underweight), MarketWatch shows. The average target price of $150.64 is about one-third above the stock's Oct. 30 closing level.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor