Sweetie becomes Mrs. Bull? "Metaverse Benchmark" Roblox's profit falls short of expectations, closing down 20%.

In the face of the "new love" artificial intelligence, the "old love" metaverse seems to have been gradually forgotten by the market.

On Wednesday, Roblox, once known as the "number one metaverse stock," announced lower-than-expected second-quarter performance: a loss of $282.8 million, higher than the $176.4 million loss in the same period of 2022. Earnings per share were -$0.46, also falling below analysts' expectations of -$0.45.

The company stated that the daily active user count reached 65.5 million, a 25% increase compared to the previous year, with an average booking revenue of $11.92 per daily active user, a 3% decrease year-on-year. Quarterly booking revenue was $781 million, slightly below the expected $785 million.

In addition, Roblox stated that users spent over 14 billion hours on the platform during the second quarter, a 24% increase compared to the previous year.

Roblox mentioned that the company is still working on expanding its user base and increasing revenue sources, but it anticipates continued losses in the foreseeable future. The increase in net loss compared to the same period last year is due to "higher levels of expenses required to support business growth," such as corporate management expenses, developer exchange fees, infrastructure, and personnel costs.

After the financial report was released, Roblox's stock price fell by 21.4% in the same day's trading.

As the "number one metaverse stock," Roblox's main audience has traditionally been teenagers and children, but the company has been striving to expand usage among users of all age groups. In June of last year, Roblox announced that eligible creators could develop experiences with mature content (such as certain forms of violence, romantic themes, and moderate crude humor) for users aged 17 and above.

In a letter to shareholders on Wednesday, the company stated that daily active users from all age groups and regions are growing. Roblox CEO David Baszucki said during the quarterly conference call with investors:

Globally, users aged 17 to 24, as well as users aged 25 and above, have consistently had higher booking rates per hour than users in other age groups.

Despite the disappointing second-quarter performance, Roblox remains optimistic about the company's future.

Earlier this month, Baszucki shared a post on X (formerly Twitter), claiming that Roblox's downloads on Meta Quest have "well over" 1 million, just five days after the release of this version.

During the conference call on Wednesday, Baszucki stated that the company has prioritized performance and interpersonal interaction, allowing users to find familiar experiences across different platforms.

I believe there is a great opportunity to achieve immersive experiences in VR and other platforms.