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(Jakub Porzycki/Getty Images)

Roblox keeps adding users of all ages

The gaming platform's increasing emphasis on more mature content seems to be working

Tom Jones

Roblox Corp. just posted a strong Q2, with revenues rising 31% year-on-year to $894 million, engagement hours up 24% to 17.4 billion, and daily active users reaching 79.5 million, as more and more people log in each day to explore the vast range of “experiences” that the video game platform has to offer. 

Although shares actually slipped yesterday on the back of news that the company’s long-serving CFO Michael Guthrie would be stepping down, there was much for Roblox execs to cheer, not least of all that their efforts to host more mature content on the platform (think games with horror elements, violence, and crude humor) seem to be paying off. 

Roblox users
Sherwood News

Not just for kids

While Roblox has always been pretty broad in terms of what users can actually get up to — you can clock in for a shift at a virtual Ikea and get paid actual money to do so, for instance, or attend in-game concerts from artists like Charli XCX, Mariah Carey, or Lil Nas X — the company announced plans last summer to let game developers make exclusive content for users who've verified they're over 17. 

Since then, the platform has seen the oldest cohort that it breaks out, the over 13s, grow by almost 10 million daily active users, while the number of DAUs aged 13 and under has risen just 4.2 million in the same period.

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Ford partners with Amazon to sell its used vehicles online

Beginning today, many Amazon shoppers can add a pre-owned Ford to cart.

The partnership, announced by the two companies on Monday, will begin in Los Angeles, Dallas, and Seattle, with plans to expand.

According to Ford, every vehicle sold through Amazon will have been “inspected, reconditioned, and comes with a Ford warranty, Ford Rewards points, and in some cases, a money-back guarantee.”

Shares of used car retailers Carvana and CarMax dipped in early trading on the news. Similar patterns occurred when Amazon Autos announced a partnership with Hyundai late last year, and another with rental giant Hertz in August.

According to Ford, every vehicle sold through Amazon will have been “inspected, reconditioned, and comes with a Ford warranty, Ford Rewards points, and in some cases, a money-back guarantee.”

Shares of used car retailers Carvana and CarMax dipped in early trading on the news. Similar patterns occurred when Amazon Autos announced a partnership with Hyundai late last year, and another with rental giant Hertz in August.

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Walmart falls after CEO of more than a decade steps down

Walmart’s stock fell as low as 3% this morning in premarket trading on news that its longtime CEO, Doug McMillon, who helped the company beef up its e-commerce segment against Amazon, will be stepping down.

While Walmart’s sales came in above expectations last quarter, it missed on quarterly earnings. It’s also facing an increasingly dominant Amazon, which is pushing further into Walmart’s territory with same-day grocery delivery in more than 1,000 cities and towns in the US, with plans to expand to 2,300 by the end of the year.

And unlike Walmart, Amazon, in addition to e-commerce and physical stores, has a number of other, much higher-income revenue streams — most notably its fast-growing cloud business, AWS. Earlier this year, Amazon nudged ahead of Walmart in overall revenue, and is expected to continue to build on that lead when Walmart reports Q3 earnings next week.

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