Roblox, a gaming platform for teens and tweens, files for its IPO
19 November 2020
Roblox, a Silicon Valley-based based social gaming platform for tweens and teens, on Thursday filed for a $1 billion initial public offering.
Why it matters: Roblox was big business before the pandemic, but really skyrocketed once kids were stuck at home.
Financial details: Roblox reports $206 million of losses on $589 million in revenue for the first nine months of 2020, compared to $46 million in losses on $350 million for the same period in 2019.
Investors: The company has raised $335 million since its 2004 founding, most recently this past February at a $4 billion valuation. Backers include Altos Ventures, First Round Capital, Meritech Capital Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, and Index Ventures.
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.