Roblox, the massively popular gaming platform played by over half of U.S. kids under 16, has raised $520 million in a new Series H funding round that includes investors Warner Music Group, Altimeter Capital and others. (Warner’s investment was eight-figures, according to a source familiar with the situation.) The new round increases Roblox’s valuation to $29.5 billion, and the company plans to use the additional funds to “advance Roblox’s growth initiatives.”

This isn’t the first time Warner Music Group has partnered with Roblox, with Atlantic Records artist Ava Max hosting a launch party for her album Heaven & Hell on the platform in September. Roblox vice president and global head of music Jon Vlassopulos told VentureBeat at the time that the company had struck a partnership with Warner Music Group to launch more virtual concerts and “enable WMG’s artists to tap into the power of Roblox’s platform in the weeks and months ahead.”

Warner Music Group has been focused on growing its footprint in gaming for some time. “Ultimately, everything is going toward gaming, and we want to make sure we’re capturing value within it. It’s the future of entertainment,” Oana Ruxandra, Warner Music Group’s chief digital officer, told Billboard last September. The music industry has certainly been flocking toward gaming platforms over the past year, with Travis Scott pulling in 27.7 million participants during his Fortnite in-game performance last April, kicking off a wave of artists looking to set up virtual concerts on similar platforms. Roblox launched its first virtual concert in November, with a virtual concert by Lil Nas X that racked up 33 million views. 

“COVID has supercharged the demand for 2D and 3D live streaming events, and we’ve successfully facilitated virtual concerts on platforms like Wave XR, Roblox and Fortnite,” Warner CEO Steve Cooper said during the company’s fourth quarter earnings call in November. “On track to be a several hundred billion-dollar market by 2025, gaming is among the fastest-growing sectors of digital media, and we’ve positioned ourselves to forge meaningful partnerships within the gaming community.”

The move to raise another funding round hasn’t been a long-term plan for Roblox, which was supposed to go public in 2020 before delaying its IPO due to uncertain market conditions. Like many gaming companies, Roblox saw a huge surge in user engagement at the beginning of the pandemic, with a 40% increase in users in March 2020. Last April, Roblox reported that two-thirds of all kids between the ages 9 and 12 in the U.S. were using its platform. 

A pandemic isn’t necessarily a bad time to make a strategic investment. Warner’s income growth stalled in the quarter ending Sept. 30 but record labels and publishers have been somewhat protected from disruptions in live music and retail. Moreover, the time is good for an investment because debt is cheap. In October, Warner raised $250 million in a 3% note sale with the specific intent “to fund a portion of the aggregate cash consideration for certain acquisitions.”

Glenn Peoples contributed to this report.

YouTube, Facebook and Twitter have removed a video that President Donald Trump released as his supporters stormed the Capitol building and disrupted the Electoral College vote count.

In the video, posted on social media platforms on Wednesday afternoon, Trump told the rioters to “go home now” while reiterating the false claim that the 2020 election was stolen from him.

The New York Times earlier reported that YouTube and Facebook had taken the video down. But the removal from the three major social media platforms didn’t stop it from being widely viewed. Twitter, in particular, kept the video up on its platform for more than two hours, allowing it to rack up 13 million views. The social network had affixed a label on the Trump tweet containing the video, that includes the messaging, “This claim of election fraud is disputed.” It has also disabled replies, retweets and likes on the tweet “due to a risk of violence.”

Representatives for Twitter, Facebook and YouTube did not immediately respond to requests for comment about the video.

Earlier in the day, Twitter a Twitter spokeswoman told The Hollywood Reporter, “In regard to the ongoing situation in Washington, DC, Twitter’s Trust & Safety teams are working to protect the public conversation occurring on the service and will take action on any content that violates the Twitter Rules.”

Users of the social platforms have called on the tech giants to shutter Trump’s account entirely amid the chaos on Capitol Hill. Sacha Baron Cohen specifically called on Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki and Google CEO Sundar Pichai to ban Trump from their platforms, writing that “Donald Trump just incited a violent attack on American democracy. Is that FINALLY [sic] enough for you to act?!” Other Hollywood figures who have weighed in include Josh Gad and Sarah Silverman.

The social media platforms have in recent years struggled to control the spread of misinformation and violent rhetoric on their platforms, especially when an elected official like Trump has stoked those flames. During the recent presidential election, Twitter and Facebook both liberally affixed labels to messages that contained misinformation. But they refrained from taking more permanent action against accounts run by Trump and his supporters. Twitter has said it treats Trump’s account differently because of the newsworthiness of his missives. He will not be granted the same protection after he leaves office on Jan. 20.

This article was originally published by The Hollywood Reporter.

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