Roblox Poaches Meta Official To Boost Presence In Asia, Remains Bullish On China

Roblox Corp RBLX roped in a Meta Platforms Inc META executive for the newly created role of Asia-Pacific head of public policy, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Steve Park, veteran government relations head for South Korea and Japan at Facebook's parent company, will join Roblox next week. Park has also been a part of Facebook's Oculus virtual-reality business.

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Roblox is among the leading operator of a metaverse-like realm or a virtual place where people play and make transactions. Higher usage in Asian countries would drive growth beyond its core U.S. and European markets. 

Roblox battled a slowdown following pandemic recovery as people headed back to the office, hurting its shares. Roblox's year-over-year revenue growth slowed to 30% in the June 30 quarter, from 39% in the previous quarter and 83% the quarter before that.

Roblox CEO David Baszucki expressed bullishness on markets in Asia, including Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, and China. It had 58.5 million daily active users as of July.

Roblox is available in Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, and the Philippines, and sought workers knowledgeable about Roblox communities there. 

Roblox recently hired two public-relations firms in Asia to support its brand in those markets.

Meta has also pinned its hopes on the metaverse to develop a multibillion-dollar consumer market. Meta committed $10 billion annually to the immersive virtual world filled with avatars for the next decade.

Price Action: RBLX shares traded lower by 2.97% at $43.75 in the premarket on the last check Friday.