Roku Files for IPO, Hoping to Raise Money to Boost Position in Industry - The UpStream

Roku Files for IPO, Hoping to Raise Money to Boost Position in Industry

posted Sunday Sep 3, 2017 by Scott Ertz

Roku Files for IPO, Hoping to Raise Money to Boost Position in Industry

There is little doubt that Roku is a leader in the streaming platform space. They offer their own hardware, which adds smart capabilities to standard, or older, televisions. In addition, many television manufacturers build Roku technology directly into their sets. At CES 2017, we saw both TCL and Hitachi introduce Roku-powered televisions. It seems, if you want a good experience with native streaming, Roku is the way to go.

Riding that high, Roku has filed for an Initial Public Offering, or IPO. This means that the company plans to offer stock in the company to the public in hopes of raising some new capital. They are hoping to raise as much as $100 million, listing Class A common stock on the NASDAQ.

The filing revealed some information about the inner workings of the company, something that privately held companies are not required to disclose. First, the company had 15.1 million active accounts at the end of June, and saw 6.7 billion hours of streaming in that first 6 months. In 2016, one-third of all content streamed was on Netflix, and YouTube is its top ad-supported service.

Unfortunately, Roku cannot seem to find profitability. The company is currently running at a deficit, with $244 million in losses. The company also acknowledges that it could be some time before they can return to profitability. The important part of the note, however, is that they have a plan. In particular, the company wants to find a way to generate revenue off of its ad-supported platforms.

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