Roku Files for a $100 Million IPO

Megalith

Megalith

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Roku is going public: the streaming device maker is looking to raise $100 million and will be listed on the NASDAQ under the ticker of ROKU. The company has over 15.1 million accounts and streams 3.5 billion hours of content quarterly, which is up 60 percent year-over-year.

The company’s primary gross profit source is switching from hardware sales to its platform, mainly around advertising and subscription revenue. In January 2017, hardware sales represented 19 percent of total gross profit while down 28 percent. Meanwhile, the platform gross profit represented 81 percent of the total, up 104 percent from the six months prior.
 
I didn't think Rokus were that big of a deal! I mean, I know a few people who have them, but most people use other devices to stream, such as game consoles or smart devices.

Also with the comment at the end of the article, if that gets out there, Roku is either going to a) add women to their board, or b) get boycotted or c) they'll do alright.
 
scojer said:
I didn't think Rokus were that big of a deal! I mean, I know a few people who have them, but most people use other devices to stream, such as game consoles or smart devices.

Also with the comment at the end of the article, if that gets out there, Roku is either going to a) add women to their board, or b) get boycotted or c) they'll do alright.
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So far of the devices I've tried, I prefer the Roku. It's dead simple to use and understand. I don't want to hear my game console whirring in the background of the movie I'm watching and I certainly don't expect my Samsung TV to continue updating Apps (or any other TV manufacturer for that matter). Amazon's fire stick is probably a close second (first if you live in Kodi land). I don't personally like the Chromecast because it doesn't have a remote, but I get the appeal for some people.

I don't have any Apple devices so I have no reason to get/try an AppleTV. My buddy has one, it seems nice.
 
So this is why they've been trying to clean up the pirate streams :)
 
It'll be a never ending battle for them to tighten up the pirate streams. It is ran off of linux so unless they get proprietary software, it'll keep happening.
 
I have used Chromecast, a smart TV with Chromecast, and have a 32" Roku TV in the bedroom. The Roku is much faster and easier to navigate than the other two. So, I bought a Roku box and no longer use the built in Chromecast. Its a night and day difference. The ability to go online and sync all my accounts to the Roku in seconds is unbeatable. I read some articles that say Roku is still losing money though, and people are worried about the Netflix deal not being renewed. I love the Roku, but am hesitant to invest.
 
Roku is my favorite streaming device and the only one I recommend to friends at this point as it works the best with Plex.
 
My Girlfriend has a Roku and its a damn fine device for sure. Small, simple, compact and fast. Does just enough.. but not too much. I wouldn't mind buying one myself in the future!
 
Easy for most people to use, affordable, comes with a remote, and direct plays enough media formats. The streaming stick is my go to suggestion for plex clients.
 
I have 2 Roku TVs, one in the bedroom, one in the gym, and Roku 4 on the main living room TV. They are simple and easy, surpisingly even my 60yr old parents have 2, I think that speaks to the ease of use and says a lot about future adoption. That said, they rely on outside content makers/providers, who can and will squeeze them. Their deal with Netflix, which is a huge percentage(and was originally exclusively designed for) of their devices use expires very soon. That said most of the other channels suck or are our behind a pay wall. But if you just want to stream youtube, Netflix, Prime, it's fantastic. Hardcore cutters will still go after fireTV and all the more accessible pirate streams.
 
I LOVES me some Roku. I have tried ALL of the (main stream) streaming devices, and Roku won out in terms of ease to use and reliability. I have been buying them for all the family members.

2nd place is Amazon fire, but my gen 1 fire stick is old and stupidly slow. 3rd place is chromecast, but you still have to cast from your phone or other device.

I'm not in the Apple ecosystem, so I haven't tried Apple TV.

So what is wrong with using a homebrew / console / etc / whatever device? CONSISTENCY and EASY. Roku has remained consistent on their software, it all looks the same even on varying models. And the EASY factor... my wife can use it. That deserves a gold medal right there. After 2 or 3 different HTPC's, raspberry KODI devices, bluray playters, misc built in TV streaming, xbox 360, PS3 and PS4, she can finally use the Roku and get where she needs to go with minimal help from me. GOLD.

Now, if Roku wants to kick themselves in the balls and throw themselves towards the abyss, they only need to follow the Tivo gameplan.... charge your loyal customers for shit that should be free. If Roku ever goes to a pay model (on top of their hardware) I will find a different solution. Kodi isn't that bad in the grand scheme of things.

Will I buy some IPO stock? Eh, I dunno, I spend all my money on bills and home improvement. Not a lot of liquid cash laying around to play the market.
 
We use a roku, and a fire, and while i like the fire more, it's hard to deny how easy the Roku is to use. I let my mom try both for her house, and she loved the roku more. It was easier for her. 72 year old lady and she has watched over 5000 hours of Hulu and Netflix the last 3 years, so she knows what's up :)
 
trentchau said:
We use a roku, and a fire, and while i like the fire more, it's hard to deny how easy the Roku is to use. I let my mom try both for her house, and she loved the roku more. It was easier for her. 72 year old lady and she has watched over 5000 hours of Hulu and Netflix the last 3 years, so she knows what's up :)
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That's what I'm talking about. My 70 year old mother can use the Roku, and she is a stone cold techo-idiot. She can barely turn her TV on.
 
I've never used a Roku. I used WDTV's when they came out years ago, and currently use a pair of Apple TV4's with Plex.
I do have a Firestick and WDTV Live Hub, but I haven't used them in a long time.

Most of the time I am just consuming media on my PC and use the Apple TV4 upstairs in my room when I watch something before I hit the sack.
 
daglesj said:
That will all change once Wall Street dictates the working rules.
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Indeed. I'm going to bookmark this page with all these nice things to say about Roku and compare it in a few years. I agree with them all as it has been a fine device and service for me as well.

BUT, now that wall street will get their grubs on it, the party is over. Roku will become the blood sucking, consumer unfriendly, for god's sake won't someone please think of the shareholders, vampire that all once good companies become.
 
I got my parents a Roku 3 simply because of how smooth they function, as well as the remote headphones function, which is great for my Dad to avoid driving my Mum to murder him after one too many WWII history youtube videos...

It's just a pity that functionality outside of only a few countries is very limited. We live in Germany and there's no presence here so a bit of workaroundy-magic is required, sadly.
 
We love the roku. and I love the subscriptions they have. wish they could do more. i use them for the HBO go, which we just canceled. but it would be nice for one place to have most of the various channels so i only have to have 1 account where i control all my viewing and paid for channels. like how with steam i can buy games from all sorts of vendors

i really hate having a roku account.. a hulu account.. etc etc
 
You know, it's when a private company goes public I worry. They become beholden to the share holders. If they can't provide a constant revenue stream with some growth, then they are in trouble. This usually results in some...unscrupulous actions like forced subscriptions, hindering performance on older devices, or not supporting them what so ever (bricking).

That said I love our 3 Roku's (We had 4 but gave one away)
 
I think I am fairly ignorant of this stuff, but what is to prevent a company like comcrap from just buying all the shares and killing it in one way or another?
 
KarsusTG said:
I think I am fairly ignorant of this stuff, but what is to prevent a company like comcrap from just buying all the shares and killing it in one way or another?
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Because there's like 15 different competitors waiting to take its place like Apple TV, Western Digital, KODI boxes, Amazon Fire Stick, NVIDIA Shield, Google Chromecast. (Just to name a few.) There's also a ton of android knockoffs with boxed stores for TV apps only.

I can see google wanting to buy them up more than Comcast. That is a wealth of data right there.

Either way Comcast isn't going to sweat it. If they feel threatened, they will just throw more lobbyist money at DC to tilt things in their favor.
 
I give them 5 years as a public company. They'll either "fall into line" or get sucked into the black whole of corporate buy ups.
 
I hope Roku doesn't get ruined. Cheap way to reduce a cable bill was to cancel cable, get "good enough" internet to stream, and then pair Roku with the base Sling TV package for $20.
 
RayderR6 said:
Indeed. I'm going to bookmark this page with all these nice things to say about Roku and compare it in a few years. I agree with them all as it has been a fine device and service for me as well.

BUT, now that wall street will get their grubs on it, the party is over. Roku will become the blood sucking, consumer unfriendly, for god's sake won't someone please think of the shareholders, vampire that all once good companies become.
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The problem is that once anyone has an IPO, the shareholders are now also the customers of the company, and often times share holders become the more important customer to please than the actual people who buy the product.
 
once owned by the public you have to explain why you do so many nice things and have to come up with ways to cut cost. They will be forced in line with everyone else. If you want to keep your ability to care more about your employees and less about profit you stay private.

I have to agree with a few others here, I don't see what makes Roku special that they will weather the storm long term and be able to carry on making huge profits. Like the article pointed out fitbit and gopro slipped after going public. There is nothing special to make Roku stand out. It used to be something that was needed more, but as people keep buying new tvs, the TVs have the apps built in, or they buy other devices that have the apps built in.

There is no reason for them to need more money other than wanting hire profits. It isn't like $100 million will help them invest in anything that they can't invest in today. Especially if most of their money comes from ads and not from the products themselves. They are in a very quickly churning area, today they are doing good. 4 years from now? nobody will care about them.
 
Exavior said:
once owned by the public you have to explain why you do so many nice things and have to come up with ways to cut cost. They will be forced in line with everyone else. If you want to keep your ability to care more about your employees and less about profit you stay private.

I have to agree with a few others here, I don't see what makes Roku special that they will weather the storm long term and be able to carry on making huge profits. Like the article pointed out fitbit and gopro slipped after going public. There is nothing special to make Roku stand out. It used to be something that was needed more, but as people keep buying new tvs, the TVs have the apps built in, or they buy other devices that have the apps built in.

There is no reason for them to need more money other than wanting hire profits. It isn't like $100 million will help them invest in anything that they can't invest in today. Especially if most of their money comes from ads and not from the products themselves. They are in a very quickly churning area, today they are doing good. 4 years from now? nobody will care about them.
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I agree with you, but I would say there could be something they could do with that money: Spend it on paying other TV manus to use their service. By all reports Roku TV is the best Smart TV interface on the market right now so if Roku could find a way to convince a major player, like Vizio, to use their interface it could be a huge win for them.
 
I really see google buying them up. The migration to chrome stick with the roku brand name seems like a shoe in. Tons of user data, more apps, plus a good installed user base.
 
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