WEBVTT - Roblox Chairman and CEO David Baszucki Talks Earnings 

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<v Speaker 1>Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.

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<v Speaker 2>Video game platform Roadblocks the shares on the up and up.

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<v Speaker 2>Of course, the company reported large and expected to jump

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<v Speaker 2>and users for the first quarter, with its daily active

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<v Speaker 2>players jobbing twenty six percent ninety seven point eight million

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<v Speaker 2>now and that was for the first three months ending

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<v Speaker 2>in March. Dave Pazuki, Reblock CEO, joins us and Dave,

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<v Speaker 2>are you economic anxiety proof? Are you recession proof.

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<v Speaker 3>Ed? Carolyn, thank you for having me on the program.

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<v Speaker 3>I want to highlight significant performance in Q one. We

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<v Speaker 3>just shared yesterday on our Earnie's Call on our really

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<v Speaker 3>mission to get ten percent of the global gaming software

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<v Speaker 3>market running on the platform. Roadblocks is virtual, Roadblocks is digital.

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<v Speaker 3>We do not have any supply chain issues. There is

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<v Speaker 3>no shortage of Roadblocks, and we are contributing to the

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<v Speaker 3>US trade import export ratio. We're bringing cash.

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<v Speaker 2>Into the and you're paying some of those content creators,

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<v Speaker 2>in particular developers. Dave, I'm interested in that ten percent figure, Like,

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<v Speaker 2>what sort of timeframe are we talking here? Because what

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<v Speaker 2>you're about three percent?

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<v Speaker 3>Now? Am I right? We're at about two and a

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<v Speaker 3>half to three percent. We have shared consistently that we

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<v Speaker 3>believe we can grow at greater than twenty percent year

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<v Speaker 3>on year. We highlighted in Q one growth rates much

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<v Speaker 3>higher than that, including revenue growth rates of twenty nine

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<v Speaker 3>percent year on year, daily active user growth rates of

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<v Speaker 3>twenty six percent year on year, and a couple really

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<v Speaker 3>interesting highlights. Over thirteen users on the platform, DAUS grew

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<v Speaker 3>by thirty six percent year on year and India huge

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<v Speaker 3>market grew by seventy seven percent year on year. So

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<v Speaker 3>we really think it's attainable.

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<v Speaker 1>Dave, I'm a passionate gamer in the over third category,

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<v Speaker 1>and I'd say that the biggest headlines right now are

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<v Speaker 1>the delay of GTA six high fidelity game and the

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<v Speaker 1>delay of switch to on the console side. Is that

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<v Speaker 1>way you think you're going to compete when you aim

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<v Speaker 1>ten percent market share? How did those two headlines impact

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<v Speaker 1>roadblocks and the platform.

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<v Speaker 3>We have shared a roadmap, including highlighting genre expansion into

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<v Speaker 3>RPG sports and racing battle games on the platform. We

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<v Speaker 3>are seeing more of this on the platform. For example,

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<v Speaker 3>we recently NASCAR has teamed up with Driving Empire, Paramount

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<v Speaker 3>teamed up with SpongeBob simulator, PGA Tour has teamed up

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<v Speaker 3>so we're seeing more and more of this. We shared

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<v Speaker 3>that these three genres, which will contribute to us getting

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<v Speaker 3>to ten percent of the gaming space, we believe grew

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<v Speaker 3>over sixty percent year on year on the platform growing revenue.

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<v Speaker 1>What role is advertising going to play?

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<v Speaker 3>We think we already have some creators on our platform

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<v Speaker 3>who are making more money on advertising than they are

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<v Speaker 3>with virtual currency. We believe it's a natural compliment. What

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<v Speaker 3>it's not big enough yet for us to break out

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<v Speaker 3>the numbers. We just released a partnership with Google that

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<v Speaker 3>will provide more video advertising for some of our our developers.

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<v Speaker 3>So it's part of building an economic ecosystem, you know.

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<v Speaker 3>We also shared that over one hundred creators on the

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<v Speaker 3>platform made over a million dollars in the last twelve months,

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<v Speaker 3>So there's a huge variety of creators starting to make

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<v Speaker 3>good businesses.

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<v Speaker 2>And Wedbush, for example, the analyst, they're saying that payment,

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<v Speaker 2>when it improves the content, it draws more people there.

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<v Speaker 2>Dave Weber also say, look, when you actually tell us

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<v Speaker 2>exactly you break out the numbers advertising, that's the next

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<v Speaker 2>cat list for roadblock shares. Any timeframe and when you

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<v Speaker 2>will be able to break out the advertising numbers.

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<v Speaker 3>We want to break out those numbers sooner as soon

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<v Speaker 3>as we can. They are growing, stay tuned, we're looking

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<v Speaker 3>forward to that. That said, we're growing at enormous rates

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<v Speaker 3>with the core business of virtual currency, both on engagement

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<v Speaker 3>and on users, really significant outperformance in Q one.

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<v Speaker 2>I'm going to go to the delicate side because last

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<v Speaker 2>time you joined us, Dave, it was all about parental controls.

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<v Speaker 2>It's all about the focus on safety. Now since we

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<v Speaker 2>last spoke, there's been a couple more legal cases come

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<v Speaker 2>your way. Look, these lawsuits aimed at you and at

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<v Speaker 2>Discord and once again is about alleged grooming, sexual exploitation

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<v Speaker 2>using the platforms. How are you dealing and responding to

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<v Speaker 2>those particular lawsuits. How you're feeling, Dave? As well as

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<v Speaker 2>I know you have your own family using it and

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<v Speaker 2>you think seriously about this stuff.

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<v Speaker 3>I would say both optimistic and as well a humility

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<v Speaker 3>for the responsibility we have. You know, any single inci

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<v Speaker 3>and on our platform is one too many, and there's

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<v Speaker 3>almost one hundred million daily users on the platform every day.

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<v Speaker 3>We take this as an enormous responsibility. We are taking

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<v Speaker 3>leadership here in that all communication on our platform is

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<v Speaker 3>filtered and goes through AI filters, which are getting enormously better,

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<v Speaker 3>including voice. There's no image sharing on our platform, so

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<v Speaker 3>there's less risk of some of the things that happen

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<v Speaker 3>in that area. And more and more we're focusing not

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<v Speaker 3>just on under thirteen, but on thirteen through seventeen year olds.

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<v Speaker 3>That's also a delicate age. We're starting to lean into

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<v Speaker 3>age verification around this. We work very heavily with local, state,

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<v Speaker 3>and federal law enforcement. Roadblocks is a dangerous place for

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<v Speaker 3>bad actors, so we have a big responsibility here.

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<v Speaker 1>Dave, you talked about M and A actually in the

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<v Speaker 1>roadbox ecosystem during the call. Give me some solid numbers

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<v Speaker 1>on what that looks like and some MNA for the

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<v Speaker 1>company as well. Going forward.

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<v Speaker 3>We have shared that there are over there's now three

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<v Speaker 3>creators on a run rate of over fifty million a year.

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<v Speaker 3>You can put some multiples on top of that and

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<v Speaker 3>estimate what their businesses might be worth. At our Developer

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<v Speaker 3>conference last year, we shared a prediction there'll be a

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<v Speaker 3>billion dollar valuation studio on the platform. We think that's

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<v Speaker 3>very very possible. Internally, we haven't announced any M and A,

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<v Speaker 3>but we are generating a fair amount of cash. You know,

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<v Speaker 3>we have well north of three billion dollars of cash,

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<v Speaker 3>but no roadblocks. M and A plans right now.

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<v Speaker 1>Dave Zukier roadblocks. Thank you very much for joining us

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<v Speaker 1>on Bloomberg Technology