What's going on?

Games platform Roblox and fintech company Affirm were both planning to debut on the stock market this week, but � wait for it� wait for it� � they put them on hold over the weekend.

What does this mean?

The amount of money raised from initial public offerings (IPOs) has hit one record high after another in the last few months, and investors have been valuing newly listed tech companies at the highest levels since the dotcom bubble. But even amid the frenzy, Roblox and Affirm are now saying they�ll wait till next year to offer their shares to public investors. Affirm kept its reasons close to its chest, but they might be similar to Roblox�s: the gaming platform admitted on Friday that Airbnb and DoorDash�s hugely successful IPOs last week made it too difficult to settle on the right price for its shares (tweet this).

Why should I care?

Bigger picture: Aim higher.�

You might�ve thought Roblox and Affirm would jump at the chance to list their shares, especially considering DoorDash and Airbnb�s share prices shot up by more than 80% and 100% on their first days of trading. But that spike actually means those companies could�ve made a lot more money than they did. See, DoorDash and Airbnb were advised to sell their shares at a specific �IPO price� that ended up being far lower than public investors thought they were worth. In other words, they could�ve sold their shares for more to start with � a situation Roblox and Affirm don�t want to find themselves in.

For markets: Sticking with tradition.

Roblox reportedly played around with the idea of a direct listing, which involves putting its shares directly onto the market. That cuts out the investment banking middle-man and its hefty fees, and lets investors directly decide how much its shares are worth. Ultimately, though, the company might�ve decided the advice of seasoned IPO professionals was well worth the extra buck or two.