Item 2. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
This Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and related statements by the Company contain forward-looking statements, including statements based upon or relating to our expectations, assumptions, estimates, and projections. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terms such as "may," "might," "will," "objective," "intend," "should," "could," "can," "would," "expect," "believe," "design," "anticipate," "estimate," "predict," "potential," "plan" or the negative of these terms, and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements may include, but are not limited to, statements concerning acquisitions by the Company, including the acquisition of SpotX, Inc. ("SpotX," and such acquisition the "SpotX Acquisition"), the acquisition of SpringServe, LLC ("SpringServe," and such acquisition the "SpringServe Acquisition"), and the merger with Telaria, Inc. ("Telaria," and such merger the "Telaria Merger"), or the anticipated benefits thereof; statements concerning potential synergies from the Company's acquisitions; statements concerning macroeconomic conditions, including inflation, supply chain issues or the occurrence of a recession, or concerns related thereto; our anticipated financial performance; key strategic objectives; industry growth rates for ad-supported connected television ("CTV") and the shift in video consumption from linear TV to CTV; anticipated benefits of new offerings, including the introduction of our new Magnite Streaming platform and our ClearLine solution; the impact of our traffic shaping technology on our business; the success of the consolidation of our two CTV platforms; the effects of our cost reduction initiatives; scope and duration of client relationships; the fees we may charge in the future; business mix; sales growth; benefits from supply path optimization; the development of identity solutions; client utilization of our offerings; our competitive differentiation; our market share and leadership position in the industry; market conditions, trends, and opportunities; certain statements regarding future operational performance measures; and other statements that are not historical facts. These statements are not guarantees of future performance; they reflect our current views with respect to future events and are based on assumptions and estimates and subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from expectations or results projected or implied by forward-looking statements.
Risks that our business faces include, but are not limited to, the following:
•our ability to realize the anticipated benefits of the SpotX Acquisition, SpringServe Acquisition, and other acquisitions;
•the impact of macroeconomic challenges on the overall demand for advertising and the advertising marketplace, including as a result of global conflict, global pandemics and the responses to such pandemics by governments, inflation, supply chain issues, capital market disruptions and instability of financial institutions, the occurrence of a recession, or concerns relating to the foregoing;
•CTV spend on our platform may grow more slowly than we expect if industry growth rates for ad supported CTV are not accurate, if CTV sellers fail to adopt programmatic advertising solutions or if we are unable to maintain or increase access to CTV advertising inventory;
•we may be unsuccessful in our supply path optimization efforts with buyers;
•our ability to introduce new offerings and bring them to market in a timely manner and potential responses or reactions of clients, vendors, and competitors to the announcement of new products and offerings;
•uncertainty of our estimates and expectations associated with new offerings, including our SpringServe ad server, ClearLine product, and our developing identity solutions;
•potential negative impacts associated with the integration of our CTV platforms and the introduction of Magnite Streaming;
•we must increase the scale and efficiency of our technology infrastructure to support our growth;
•the emergence of header bidding has increased competition from other demand sources and may cause infrastructure strain and added costs;
•our access to mobile inventory may be limited by third-party technology or lack of direct relationships with mobile sellers;
•we may experience lower take rates, which may not be offset by increases in the volume of ad requests, improvements in fill-rate, and/or increases in the value of transactions through our platform;
•the impact of requests for discounts, fee concessions, rebates, refunds or favorable payment terms;
•our business may be subject to sales and use tax, advertising and other taxes;
•failure by us or our clients to meet advertising and inventory content standards;
•the freedom of buyers and sellers to direct their spending and inventory to competing sources of inventory and demand, and to establish direct relationships and integrations without the use of our platform;
•our reliance on large aggregators of advertising inventory, and the concentration of CTV among a small number of large sellers that enjoy significant negotiating leverage;
•our ability to provide value to both buyers and sellers of advertising without being perceived as favoring one over the other or being perceived as competing with them through our service offerings;
•our reliance on large sources of advertising demand, including demand side platforms ("DSPs") that may have or develop high-risk credit profiles or fail to pay invoices when due;
•our sales efforts may require significant time and expense and may not yield the results we seek;
•we may be exposed to claims from clients for breach of contract;
•the effects of seasonal trends on our results of operations;
•we operate in an intensely competitive market that includes companies that have greater financial, technical and marketing resources than we do;
•the effects of consolidation in the ad tech industry or among our media clients;
•our ability to differentiate our offerings and compete effectively to combat commodification and disintermediation;
•potential limitations on our ability to collect or use data as a result of consumer tools, regulatory restrictions and technological limitations;
•the development and use of new identity solutions as a replacement for third-party cookies and other identifiers may disrupt the programmatic ecosystem and cause the performance of our platform to decline;
•the industry may not adopt or may be slow to adopt the use of first-party publisher segments as an alternative to third-party cookies;
•the impact of antitrust regulations or enforcement actions targeting the digital advertising ecosystem;
•our ability to comply with, and the effect on our business of, evolving legal standards and regulations, particularly concerning data protection and privacy;
•errors or failures in the operation of our solution, interruptions in our access to network infrastructure or data, and breaches of our computer systems;
•our ability to ensure a high level of brand safety for our clients and to detect "bot" traffic and other fraudulent or malicious activity;
•our ability to attract and retain qualified employees and key personnel;
•costs associated with enforcing our intellectual property rights or defending intellectual property infringement;
•our ability to comply with the terms of our financing arrangements;
•restrictions in our Credit Agreement may limit our ability to make strategic investments, respond to changing market conditions, or otherwise operate our business;
•increases in our debt leverage may put us at greater risk of defaulting on our debt obligations, subject us to additional operating restrictions and make it more difficult to obtain future financing on favorable terms;
•conversion of our Convertible Senior Notes would dilute the ownership interest of existing stockholders;
•the Capped Call Transactions subject us to counterparty risk and may affect the value of the Convertible Senior Notes and our common stock;
•the conditional conversion feature of the Convertible Senior Notes, if triggered, may adversely affect our financial condition and operating result;
•failure to successfully execute our international growth plans;
•failure to maintain an effective system of internal control over financial reporting, which could adversely affect investor confidence;
•the use of our net operating losses and tax credit carryforwards may be subject to certain limitations;
•our ability to raise additional capital if needed and the elimination of LIBOR;
•volatility in the price of our common stock;
•the impact of our repurchase program on our stock price and cash reserves;
•competition for investors and the impact of negative analyst or investor research reports; and
•provisions of our charter documents and Delaware law may inhibit a potential acquisition of the company and limit the ability of stockholders to cause changes in company management.
We discuss many of these risks and additional factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated by our forward-looking statements under the headings "Risk Factors" and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations," and elsewhere in this report and in other filings we have made and will make from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022 and subsequent filings. These forward-looking statements represent our estimates and assumptions only as of the date of the report in which they are included. Unless required by federal securities laws, we assume no obligation to update any of these forward-looking statements, or to update the reasons actual results could differ materially from those anticipated, to reflect circumstances or events that occur after the statements are made. Without limiting the foregoing, any guidance we may provide will generally be given only in connection with quarterly and annual earnings announcements, without interim updates, and we may appear at industry conferences or make other public statements without disclosing material nonpublic information in our possession. Given these uncertainties, investors should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements.
Investors should read this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and the documents that we reference in this report and have filed or will file with the SEC completely and with the understanding that our actual future results may be materially different from what we expect. We qualify all of our forward-looking statements by these cautionary statements.
The following discussion should be read in conjunction with our unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements and notes thereto appearing elsewhere in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.
Overview
Magnite, Inc., ("we," or "us"), provides technology solutions to automate the purchase and sale of digital advertising inventory.
On April 1, 2020, we completed a stock-for-stock merger with Telaria, Inc. ("Telaria" and such merger the "Telaria Merger"), a leading provider of connected television ("CTV") technology, and on April 30, 2021, we completed the acquisition of SpotX, Inc. ("SpotX" and such acquisition the "SpotX Acquisition"), a leading platform shaping CTV and video advertising globally. On July 1, 2021, we acquired SpringServe, LLC ("SpringServe"), a leading ad serving platform for CTV. SpringServe's ad serving technology manages multiple aspects of video advertising, including for CTV publishers, across both programmatic and direct-sold inventory, including forecasting, routing, customized ad experiences and ad formats, and advanced podding logic.
Following these acquisitions, we believe that we are the world’s largest independent omni-channel sell-side advertising platform ("SSP"), offering a single partner for transacting globally across all channels, formats and auction types, and the largest independent programmatic CTV marketplace, making it easier for buyers to reach CTV audiences at scale from industry-leading streaming content providers, broadcasters, platforms and device manufacturers.
Our platform features applications and services for sellers of digital advertising inventory, or publishers, that own and operate CTV channels, applications, websites and other digital media properties, to manage and monetize their inventory; applications and services for buyers, including advertisers, agencies, agency trading desks, and demand side platforms, ("DSPs"), to buy digital advertising inventory; and a transparent, independent marketplace that brings buyers and sellers together and facilitates intelligent decision making and automated transaction execution at scale. Our clients include many of the world’s leading buyers and sellers of digital advertising inventory. Our platform processes trillions of ad requests per month allowing buyers access to a global, scaled, independent alternative to "walled gardens," who both own and sell inventory and maintain control on the demand side.
We provide a full suite of tools for sellers to control their advertising business and protect the consumer viewing experience. These tools are particularly important to CTV sellers who need to ensure a TV-like viewing and advertising experience for consumers. For instance, our "ad-pod" feature provides publishers with a tool analogous to commercial breaks in traditional linear television so that they can request and manage several ads at once from different demand sources. Using this tool, publishers can establish business rules such as competitive separation of advertisers to ensure that competing brand ads do not appear during the same commercial break. Other tools we offer include audio normalization tools to control for the volume of an ad relative to content, frequency capping to avoid exposing viewers to repetitive ad placements, and creative review so that a publisher can review and approve the ad units being served to its properties. In addition, through the integration of our SSP and ad server we are able to offer a holistic work flow and yield management solution that dynamically allocates between direct-sold and programmatic inventory to drive value.
Buyers leverage our platform to manage their advertising spend and reach their target audiences on brand-safe premium inventory, simplify order management and campaign tracking, obtain actionable insights into audiences for their advertising, and access impression-level purchasing from thousands of sellers. We believe that our scale, platform features, and omni-channel offering makes us an essential partner for buyers.
We operate our business on a worldwide basis, with an established operating presence in North America, Australia and Europe, and a developing presence in Asia and South America. Our non-U.S. subsidiaries and operations perform primarily sales, marketing, and service functions.
How We Generate Revenue
Digital advertising inventory is created when consumers access sellers' content. Sellers provide digital advertising inventory to our platform in the form of advertising requests, or ad requests. When we receive ad requests from sellers, we send bid requests to buyers, which enable buyers to bid on sellers’ digital advertising inventory. Winning bids can create advertising, or paid impressions, for the seller to present to the consumer. The price that buyers pay for each thousand paid impressions purchased is measured in units referred to as CPM, or cost per thousand, and the total volume of spending between buyers and sellers on our platform is referred to as advertising spend.
We generate revenue from the use of our platform for the purchase and sale of digital advertising inventory. Generally, our revenue is based on a percentage of the ad spend that runs through our platform, although for certain clients or transaction types we may receive a fixed CPM for each impression sold, and for advertising campaigns that are transacted through insertion orders, we earn revenue based on the full amount of ad spend that runs through our platform. We also generate revenue from our SpringServe
ad server and Demand Manager header-bidding product, where fees are generally based on the number of impressions processed. In addition, we may receive certain fixed monthly fees for the use of our platforms or products.
Industry Trends
Continued Shift Toward Digital Advertising
Consumers are rapidly shifting their viewing habits towards digital mediums and expect to be able to consume content seamlessly across multiple devices, including computers, tablets, smartphones, and CTVs whenever and wherever they want. As digital content consumption continues to proliferate, we believe the percentage of advertising dollars spent through digital channels will continue to grow.
Automation of Buying and Selling
Due to the size and complexity of the advertising ecosystem and purchasing process, manual processes cannot effectively manage digital advertising inventory at scale. In addition, both buyers and sellers are demanding more transparency, better controls and more relevant insights from their advertising inventory purchases and sales. This has created a need for software solutions, known as programmatic advertising, that automate the process for planning, buying, selling and measuring digital advertising across screens. Programmatic advertising allows buyers and sellers to transact on an impression-by-impression basis through the use of real-time bidding technology, and allows for the use of advanced data and identity solutions to better target ad campaigns. Programmatic transactions include open auctions, where multiple buyers bid against each other in a real-time auction for the right to purchase a publisher's inventory, as well as reserve auctions, where publishers establish direct deals or private marketplaces with select buyers. Programmatic is the dominant method of transacting for desktop, CTV, and mobile inventory.
Convergence of TV and Digital
CTV viewership is growing rapidly and the pace of adoption is accelerating the transition of linear television to CTV programming. As the number of CTV channels continues to proliferate, we believe that ad-supported models or hybrid models that rely on a combination of subscription fees and advertising revenue will continue to gain traction. In turn, we believe brand advertisers looking to engage with streaming viewers will continue to shift their budgets from linear to CTV. Furthermore, as the CTV market continues to mature, we believe that a greater percentage of CTV advertising inventory will be sold programmatically, similar to trends that occurred in desktop and mobile. As such, we expect CTV to be a significant driver of our revenue growth for the foreseeable future.
Identity Solutions
A number of participants in the advertising technology ecosystem have taken or are expected to take action to eliminate or restrict the use of third-party cookies and other primary identifiers that have historically been used to deliver targeted advertisements. We believe that the elimination of third-party cookies has the potential to shift the programmatic ecosystem from an identity model powered by buyers that are able to aggregate and target audiences through cookies to one enabled by sellers that have direct relationships with consumers and are therefore better positioned to obtain user data and consent for implementing first party identifiers. In CTV, this identity model already largely exists with publishers more tightly controlling access to identifiers and user data, while offering proprietary first party data segments for reaching desired audiences. We believe that our scale and expertise in CTV position us well to take a leadership position in advancing this shift to a first party identity model and creating additional value opportunities for our clients. Accordingly, we have invested and intend to further invest in the development and enhancement of industry leading identity and audience solutions. In furtherance of this goal, in December 2021, we acquired Nth Party, Ltd. ("Nth Party"), a developer of cryptographic software for secure audience data sharing and analysis, and in February 2022, we acquired Carbon (AI) Limited ("Carbon"), a platform that enables publishers to measure, manage, and monetize audience segments.
We support industry privacy initiatives and believe that the next generation of identity solutions need to be open and ubiquitous, with consumer privacy, transparency and control at the core. We further believe that these solutions will ultimately lead to greater trust and consumer confidence in digital advertising, which will be positive for the advertising ecosystem in the long term. In the short term, however, these changes could create some variability in our revenue across certain buyers or sellers, depending on the timing of changes and developed solutions.
Supply Path Optimization
Supply Path Optimization ("SPO") refers to efforts by buyers to consolidate the number of vendors with which they work to find the most effective and cost-efficient paths to procure media. SPO is important to buyers because it can increase the proportion of their advertising ultimately spent on working media, with the goal of increasing return on their advertising spend, and can help them gain efficiencies by reducing the number of vendors with which they work in a complex ecosystem. In furtherance of these goals, in April 2023 we announced the launch of ClearLine, a self-service solution that provides agencies direct access to premium advertising on our platform. This solution helps agencies maximize the spend going towards working media, makes it easier for sellers and agencies to securely share data, improves workflow for campaigns traditionally transacted manually, and helps publishers generate more revenue and develop new sources of unique demand. We believe we are well positioned to benefit from SPO in the long run as a result of our transparency, our broad and unique inventory supply across all channels and formats,
including CTV, buyer tools, such as traffic shaping and ClearLine that reduce the cost of working with us, and our brand safety measures.
Header Bidding and Data Processing
Header bidding is a programmatic technique by which sellers offer inventory to multiple ad exchanges and supply side platforms, such as our platform, simultaneously. Header bidding has been rapidly adopted in recent years in the desktop and mobile channels and has experienced modest adoption in CTV. The adoption of header bidding has created a number of challenges and technical complexities for both sellers and buyers, which require sophisticated tools to manage. In addition, header bidding has led to a significant increase in the number of ad impressions to be processed and analyzed through our platform as well as by DSPs, which can lead to increased costs if not properly addressed. We have invested in technology solutions, such as Demand Manager, to help desktop and mobile publishers manage their header-bidding inventory.
While header-bidding technologies have not been largely adopted by CTV sellers, such solutions or similar solutions geared towards increasing demand competition have become more prevalent. We have addressed this, in part, through our SpringServe ad server, which offers sellers a unified programmatic demand solution for CTV that leverages our existing programmatic SSP capabilities as well as connecting with third party programmatic demand sources.
Privacy Regulation
Our business is highly susceptible to existing and emerging privacy regulations and oversight concerning the collection, use and sharing of data. Data protection authorities in the United States and around the world have focused on the advertising technology ecosystem. Because we, and our clients, rely upon large volumes of such data, it is essential that we monitor developments in this area domestically and globally, and engage in responsible privacy practices.
We do not collect information that can be used directly to identify a real person, such as name, address, or phone number, and we take steps to avoid collecting and storing such information. Instead, we rely on pseudonymous forms of data such as IP addresses, general geo-location information, and persistent identifiers about Internet users and do not attempt to associate this data with other data that can be used to identify real people. Increasingly, this type of information is considered "personal" across various jurisdictions and is therefore governed by consumer privacy laws and may be the subject of future legislation or regulation.
There are also a number of specific laws and regulations governing the collection and use of certain types of consumer data relevant to our business. For example, the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act ("COPPA"), imposes restrictions on the collection and use of data about users of child-directed websites.
In the European Economic Area ("EEA") member states and the United Kingdom (“UK”), the use and transfer of personal data is governed by the General Data Protection Regulation and the UK General Data Protection Regulation (the "GDPR" and "UK GDPR"). The GDPR and UK GDPR set out significant potential liabilities for certain data protection violations and establish significant regulatory requirements resulting in a greater compliance burden for us in the course of delivering our solution in the EEA and UK.
In addition to the GDPR and UK GDPR, a number of recent privacy regulations will or have already come into effect in the United States. California was the first state to enact an omnibus consumer privacy law in 2018, the California Consumer Privacy Act ("CCPA"), which became effective January 1, 2020. This law imposes substantial obligations on businesses that handle the personal information of California residents. The obligations imposed require us to maintain ongoing significant resources for compliance purposes. In addition, amendments to the CCPA, along with broad-based consumer privacy laws in Connecticut, Colorado, Virginia, and Utah, will all take effect by the end of 2023 and impose obligations that are similar to the CCPA. These new laws will cause us to incur additional compliance costs and impose additional restrictions on us and on our industry partners. In addition, other privacy bills have been introduced at both the state and federal level and certain international territories are imposing new or expanded privacy obligations. In the coming years, we expect further consumer privacy regulation worldwide.
Additionally, our compliance with our privacy policies and our general consumer privacy practices are also subject to review by the Federal Trade Commission, which may bring enforcement actions to challenge allegedly unfair and deceptive trade practices, including the violation of privacy policies and representations therein. Certain State Attorneys General may also bring enforcement actions based on comparable state laws or federal laws that permit state-level enforcement. Outside of the United States, our privacy and data practices are subject to regulation by data protection authorities and other regulators in the countries in which we do business.
Beyond laws and regulations, we are members of self-regulatory bodies that impose additional requirements related to the collection, use, and disclosure of consumer data, including the Internet Advertising Bureau ("IAB"), the Digital Advertising Alliance, the Network Advertising Initiative, and the Europe Interactive Digital Advertising Alliance. Under the requirements of these self-regulatory bodies, in addition to other compliance obligations, we provide consumers with notice via our privacy policy about our use of cookies and other technologies to collect consumer data, and of our collection and use of consumer data to deliver personalized advertisements. We allow consumers to opt-out from the use of data we collect for purposes of behavioral advertising
through a mechanism on our website, linked through our privacy policy as well as through portals maintained by some of these self-regulatory bodies.
We support privacy initiatives and believe they will be beneficial to consumers' confidence in advertising technology, which will ultimately be positive for the advertising ecosystem in the long term. However, until prevailing compliance practices standardize, the impact of worldwide privacy regulations on our business and, consequently, our revenue could be negatively impacted.
For additional information regarding regulatory risks to our business, see "Item 1A. Risk Factors" in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022.
Trends in Our Business
As CTV viewership is growing rapidly and the pace of adoption is accelerating the shift of advertising budgets from linear television to CTV, we believe we have strategically positioned ourselves to take advantage of this trend, and that CTV will be our biggest growth driver in future periods.
The SpotX Acquisition resulted in a significant increase in our revenue and Revenue ex-TAC (as defined in section "Key Operating and Financial Performance Metrics"), in particular in CTV and online video. Following the transaction, the percentage of our revenue attributable to CTV increased significantly, and because CTV is largely transacted through reserve auctions, these types of auctions have become a more significant portion of the transactions on our platform. The acquisition also resulted in an increase in related operating expenses, primarily associated with costs for personnel, data center and hosting costs, facilities, payments to sellers for revenue reported on a gross basis, and other ancillary costs to support the business. We have been able to offset some of these increases through cost saving activities and the achievement of acquisition synergies. As part of our integration efforts, we recently introduced our unified CTV platform, Magnite Steaming, which merges leading technology from the legacy Magnite CTV and SpotX CTV platforms. We expect client migration to our unified platform to occur primarily through the first half of 2023 and expect the migration to be completed early in the third quarter of 2023. We are continuing to support certain aspects of our legacy CTV platforms through this transition, resulting in some temporary duplication of costs.
The SpringServe Acquisition, expanded our video and CTV offering to include ad server functionality in addition to our programmatic SSP capabilities. The SpringServe ad server manages multiple aspects of video advertising for both programmatic transactions and inventory sold directly by the publisher, including forecasting, routing, customized ad experiences and ad formats, and advanced podding logic. Combined with our SSP, the SpringServe ad server provides publishers a holistic yield management solution that works across their entire video advertising business to drive value. This is of particular importance for CTV publishers, who still sell a large percentage of their inventory through their direct sales team. We believe the acquisition of SpringServe is highly strategic as it allows us to offer publishers an independent full-stack solution to the walled gardens, which can be leveraged across their entire video advertising business.
During the three months ended March 31, 2023, we announced a reduction of our global workforce by approximately 6%. The reduction in force was primarily associated with the elimination of duplicative technology roles resulting from the integration of our CTV platforms and represent additional cost synergies related to our acquisition.
Macroeconomic Developments
Our business has been negatively impacted as a result of macroeconomic challenges, such as inflation, global conflict, capital market disruptions and instability of financial institutions, the occurrence of a recession, and other macroeconomic factors, which have generally negatively impacted ad budgets, and in turn led to reduced ad spend through our platform. Any worsening of macroeconomic conditions in future periods would likely have a negative effect on our financial results, the magnitude of which is difficult to predict. In addition, continued inflation could result in an increase in our cost base relative to our revenue.
Refer to Item 1A. "Risk Factors" in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022 for additional information related to risks associated with macroeconomic challenges.
Components of Our Results of Operations
We report our financial results as one operating segment. Our consolidated operating results are regularly reviewed by our chief operating decision maker, principally to make decisions about how we allocate our resources and to measure our consolidated operating performance.
Revenue
We generate revenue from the use of our platform for the purchase and sale of digital advertising inventory. Generally, our revenue is based on a percentage of the ad spend that runs through our platform, although for certain clients or transaction types we may receive a fixed CPM for each impression sold, and for advertising campaigns that are transacted through insertion orders, we earn revenue based on the full amount of ad spend that runs through our platform. We also generate revenue from our ad server and Demand Manager header-bidding product, where fees are either based on the number of impressions processed or a percent of ad spend. In addition, we may receive certain fixed monthly fees for the use of our platform or products. We recognize revenue upon the fulfillment of our contractual obligations in connection with a completed transaction, subject to satisfying all other revenue recognition criteria. For the majority of transactions executed through our platform, we act as an agent on behalf of the publisher that is monetizing its inventory, and revenue is recognized net of any advertising inventory costs that we remit to sellers. With respect to certain revenue streams for managed advertising campaigns that are transacted through insertion orders, we report revenue on a gross basis, based primarily on our determination that the Company acts as the primary obligor in the delivery of advertising campaigns for our buyer clients with respect to such transactions.
For the three months ended March 31, 2022, our revenue reported on a gross basis was 15% of total revenue, and for the three months ended March 31, 2023, our revenue reported on a gross basis was 17% of total revenue. Any mix shift that causes an increase in the relative percentage of our revenue accounted for on a gross basis would result in a higher revenue contribution and an associated decrease in our gross margin percentage (with no underlying impact on gross profit or Revenue ex-TAC, as defined in section "Key Operating and Financial Performance Metrics"). Our revenue recognition policies are discussed in more detail in our audited consolidated financial statements and notes thereto for the year ended December 31, 2022 included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K and in Note 3 of the accompanying Notes to the Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements.
Expenses
We classify our expenses into the following categories:
Cost of Revenue. Our cost of revenue consists primarily of cloud hosting, data center, and bandwidth costs, ad protection costs, depreciation and maintenance expense of hardware supporting our revenue-producing platform, amortization of software costs for the development of our revenue-producing platform, amortization expense associated with acquired developed technologies, personnel costs, and facilities-related costs. In addition, for revenue booked on a gross basis, cost of revenue includes traffic acquisition costs. Personnel costs included in cost of revenue include salaries, bonuses, and stock-based compensation, and are primarily attributable to personnel in our network operations group who support our platform. We capitalize costs associated with software that is developed or obtained for internal use and amortize the costs associated with our revenue-producing platform in cost of revenue over their estimated useful lives. We amortize acquired developed technologies over their estimated useful lives.
Sales and Marketing. Our sales and marketing expenses consist primarily of personnel costs, including salaries, bonuses, and stock-based compensation, as well as marketing expenses such as brand marketing, travel expenses, trade shows and marketing materials, professional services, and amortization expense associated with client relationships, backlog, and non-compete agreements from our business acquisitions, and to a lesser extent, facilities-related costs and depreciation and amortization. Our sales organization focuses on increasing the adoption of our solution by existing and new buyers and sellers. We amortize acquired intangibles associated with client relationships and backlog from our business acquisitions over their estimated useful lives.
Technology and Development. Our technology and development expenses consist primarily of personnel costs, including salaries, bonuses, and stock-based compensation, as well as outsourced resources associated with the ongoing development and maintenance of our solution, depreciation and amortization, and to a lesser extent, facilities-related costs. These expenses include costs incurred in the development, implementation, and maintenance of internal use software, including platform and related infrastructure. Technology and development costs are expensed as incurred, except to the extent that such costs are associated with internal use software development that qualifies for capitalization, which are then recorded as internal use software development costs, net, on our consolidated balance sheets. We amortize internal use software development costs that relate to our revenue-producing activities on our platform to cost of revenue and amortize other internal use software development costs to technology and development costs or general and administrative expenses, depending on the nature of the related project. We amortize acquired intangibles associated with technology and development functions from our business acquisitions over their estimated useful lives.
General and Administrative. Our general and administrative expenses consist primarily of personnel costs, including salaries, bonuses, and stock-based compensation, associated with our executive, finance, legal, human resources, compliance, and other administrative personnel, as well as accounting and legal professional services fees, facilities-related costs and depreciation and amortization, and other corporate-related expenses. General and administrative expenses also include amortization of internal
use software development costs and acquired intangible assets from our business acquisitions over their estimated useful lives that relate to general and administrative functions.
Merger, Acquisition, and Restructuring Costs. Our merger, acquisition, and restructuring costs consist primarily of professional service fees associated with the merger and acquisition activities, cash-based employee termination costs, related stock-based compensation charges, and other restructuring activities, including facility closures, relocation costs, contract termination costs, and impairment costs of abandoned technology associated with restructuring activities.
Other (Income) Expense
Interest (Income) Expense, Net. Interest expense consists of interest expense associated with our Term Loan B Facility (defined below) and Convertible Senior Notes (defined below), and their related amortization of debt issuance costs and debt discount. Interest income consists of interest earned on our cash equivalents.
Other Income. Other income consists primarily of rental income from commercial office space we hold under lease and have sublet to other tenants.
Foreign Currency Exchange (Gain) Loss, Net. Foreign currency exchange (gain) loss, net consists primarily of gains and losses on foreign currency transactions and remeasurement of monetary assets and liabilities on our balance sheet denominated in foreign currencies. Foreign currency monetary assets and liabilities consist primarily of cash and cash equivalents, accounts receivable, accounts payable, and various intercompany balances held between our subsidiaries. Our primary foreign currency exposures are currencies other than the U.S. Dollar, principally the Australian Dollar, British Pound, Canadian Dollar, Euro, and Japanese Yen.
Gain on Extinguishment of Debt. Gain on extinguishment of debt consists of gains or losses associated with the repurchases of Convertible Senior Notes at a discount or premium, respectively, including unamortized issuance costs, accrued interest expense, and commissions associated with the extinguished debt.
Provision (Benefit) for Income Taxes
We are subject to income taxes in the U.S. (federal and state) and numerous foreign jurisdictions. Tax laws, regulations, administrative practices, principles, and interpretations in various jurisdictions may be subject to significant change, with or without notice, due to economic, political, and other conditions, and significant judgment is required in evaluating and estimating our provision and accruals for these taxes. There are many transactions that occur during the ordinary course of business for which the ultimate tax determination is uncertain. Our effective tax rates could be affected by numerous factors, such as changes in our business operations, acquisitions, investments, entry into new businesses and geographies, intercompany transactions, the relative amount of our foreign earnings, including earnings being lower than anticipated in jurisdictions where we have lower statutory rates and higher than anticipated in jurisdictions where we have higher statutory rates, losses incurred in jurisdictions for which we are not able to realize related tax benefits, the applicability of special tax regimes, changes in foreign currency exchange rates, changes in our stock price, changes in our deferred tax assets ("DTAs") and liabilities and their valuation, changes in the laws, regulations, administrative practices, principles, and interpretations related to tax, including changes to the global tax framework, competition, and other laws and accounting rules in various jurisdictions.
Results of Operations
The following table sets forth our condensed consolidated results of operations:
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Three Months Ended | | Change % | | | | |
| March 31, 2023 | | March 31, 2022 | | | | | | |
| (in thousands) | | | | | | |
| Revenue | $ | 130,150 | | | $ | 118,075 | | | 10 | % | | | | | | |
Expenses (1)(2): | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Cost of revenue | 124,828 | | | 59,396 | | | 110 | % | | | | | | |
| Sales and marketing | 53,049 | | | 50,000 | | | 6 | % | | | | | | |
| Technology and development | 24,215 | | | 23,043 | | | 5 | % | | | | | | |
| General and administrative | 21,088 | | | 18,704 | | | 13 | % | | | | | | |
| Merger, acquisition, and restructuring costs | 7,465 | | | 6,756 | | | 10 | % | | | | | | |
| Total expenses | 230,645 | | | 157,899 | | | 46 | % | | | | | | |
| Loss from operations | (100,495) | | | (39,824) | | | (152) | % | | | | | | |
| Other (income) expense, net | (1,454) | | | 6,774 | | | NM | | | | | | |
| Loss before income taxes | (99,041) | | | (46,598) | | | (113) | % | | | | | | |
| Benefit for income taxes | (309) | | | (2,005) | | | (85) | % | | | | | | |
| Net loss | $ | (98,732) | | | $ | (44,593) | | | (121) | % | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| NM Not meaningful | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
(1) Stock-based compensation expense included in our expenses was as follows: | | | | |
| Three Months Ended | | |
| March 31, 2023 | | March 31, 2022 | | | | |
| (in thousands) | | |
Cost of revenue | $ | 468 | | | $ | 350 | | | | | |
| Sales and marketing | 7,405 | | | 5,341 | | | | | |
Technology and development | 5,446 | | | 4,717 | | | | | |
General and administrative | 5,825 | | | 4,237 | | | | | |
| Merger, acquisition, and restructuring costs | 143 | | | 1,944 | | | | | |
Total stock-based compensation expense | $ | 19,287 | | | $ | 16,589 | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
(2) Depreciation and amortization expense included in our expenses was as follows: | | | | |
| | Three Months Ended | | |
| March 31, 2023 | | March 31, 2022 | | | | |
| (in thousands) | | |
Cost of revenue | $ | 80,391 | | | $ | 26,322 | | | | | |
| Sales and marketing | 15,044 | | | 19,152 | | | | | |
Technology and development | 205 | | | 224 | | | | | |
General and administrative | 155 | | | 168 | | | | | |
Total depreciation and amortization expense | $ | 95,795 | | | $ | 45,866 | | | | | |
The following table sets forth our condensed consolidated results of operations for the specified periods as a percentage of our revenue for those periods presented:
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Three Months Ended | | |
| March 31, 2023 | | March 31, 2022 | | | | |
Revenue | 100 | % | | 100 | % | | | | |
Cost of revenue | 96 | | | 50 | | | | | |
Sales and marketing | 41 | | | 42 | | | | | |
Technology and development | 19 | | | 20 | | | | | |
| General and administrative | 16 | | | 16 | | | | | |
| Merger, acquisition, and restructuring costs | 6 | | | 6 | | | | | |
Total expenses | 177 | | | 134 | | | | | |
| Loss from operations | (77) | | | (34) | | | | | |
| Other (income) expense, net | (1) | | | 6 | | | | | |
| Loss before income taxes | (76) | | | (40) | | | | | |
| Benefit for income taxes | — | | | (2) | | | | | |
| Net loss | (76) | % | | (38) | % | | | | |
| Note: Percentages may not sum due to rounding. |
Comparison of the Three Months Ended March 31, 2023 and 2022
Revenue
Revenue increased $12.1 million, or 10%, for the three months ended March 31, 2023 compared to the three months ended March 31, 2022. Our revenue growth was driven primarily by growth in mobile, which increased by $9.2 million, or 23%, and CTV, which increased by $7.6 million, or 15%. These increases were partially offset by a decline in revenue from desktop of $4.7 million, or 17%.
Our revenue is largely a function of the number of advertising transactions and the price, or CPM, at which the inventory is sold, which results in total advertising spend on our platform, and, with respect to our revenue reported on a net basis, the take rate we charge for our services. Because pricing and take rate vary across publisher, channel and transaction type, our revenue is impacted by shifts in the mix of advertising spend on our platform. We believe that contributions to revenue from reserve auctions, in particular with respect to CTV, which is largely transacted on a reserved basis, will continue to grow as a percentage of our total revenue. In general, we expect this shift will have a positive impact on our revenue due to both an increase in the volume of transactions and average CPM, despite the fact that reserve auctions generally carry a lower take rate compared to open auction transactions.
Our business is dependent in part on the overall health of the advertising market. Our revenue growth has been tempered, and may be negatively impacted in the future, by reductions in revenue resulting from the impact of macroeconomic challenges. If economic conditions were to deteriorate further, we would likely experience a negative impact on our future revenue trends, and the magnitude of this impact is difficult to predict depending on the scope and duration of any recession. Refer to Item 1A. "Risk Factors" in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022 for additional information related to these risks and the impact they may have on our business.
Cost of Revenue
Cost of revenue increased $65.4 million, or 110%, for the three months ended March 31, 2023 compared to the three months ended March 31, 2022, primarily due to an increase of $54.1 million in depreciation and amortization. This increase was driven by incremental amortization of $53.2 million due to the acceleration of the remaining lives of certain acquired intangible assets and capitalized software during the fourth quarter of 2022 from the integration of our legacy CTV platforms into Magnite Streaming. Costs of revenue also included increases of $8.5 million in cloud hosting, data center, and bandwidth expenses.
We expect our cost of revenue to continue to increase through the third quarter of 2023 compared to 2022 in absolute dollars primarily due to the accelerated amortization expense as discussed above, which is expected to result in approximately $61.1 million of net incremental non-cash expense through the third quarter of 2023 as compared to the original timing of its amortization. Cost of revenue in the fourth quarter of 2023 is expected to decline compared to the fourth quarter of 2022 in absolute dollars, due to the completion of the accelerated amortization expense.
Cost of revenue may fluctuate from quarter to quarter and period to period, on an absolute dollar basis and as a percentage of revenue, depending on revenue levels and the volume of transactions we process supporting those revenues, and the timing and amounts of depreciation and amortization of equipment and software.
Sales and Marketing
Sales and marketing expenses increased $3.0 million, or 6%, for the three months ended March 31, 2023 compared to the three months ended March 31, 2022 primarily due to increases of $5.1 million related to personnel expenses and $0.9 million related to professional services expenses. These increases were partially offset by a decrease of $4.1 million related to depreciation and amortization primarily due to certain acquired intangible assets becoming fully amortized in 2022.
Sales and marketing expenses may fluctuate quarter to quarter and period to period, on an absolute dollar basis and as a percentage of revenue, based on revenue levels, the timing of our investments and seasonality in our industry and business.
Technology and Development
Technology and development expenses increased $1.2 million, or 5%, for the three months ended March 31, 2023 compared to the three months ended March 31, 2022.
The timing and amount of our capitalized development and enhancement projects may affect the amount of development costs expensed in any given period. As a percentage of revenue, technology and development expense may fluctuate from quarter to quarter and period to period based on revenue levels, the timing and amounts of technology and development efforts, the timing and the rate of the amortization of capitalized projects and the timing and amounts of future capitalized internal use software development costs.
General and Administrative
General and administrative expenses increased $2.4 million, or 13%, for the three months ended March 31, 2023 compared to the three months ended March 31, 2022, primarily due to increases of $1.9 million in personnel expenses.
General and administrative expenses may fluctuate from quarter to quarter and period to period based on the timing and amounts of expenditures in our general and administrative functions as they vary in scope and scale over periods. Such fluctuations may not be directly proportional to changes in revenue.
Merger, Acquisition, and Restructuring Costs
Merger, acquisition, and restructuring costs increased $0.7 million, or 10%, for the three months ended March 31, 2023 compared to the three months ended March 31, 2022. Costs incurred during the three months ended March 31, 2023 were due to restructuring activities as a result of consolidating our legacy CTV and SpotX CTV platforms following the SpotX Acquisition, which primarily included $3.4 million of severance related expenses, $2.2 million of facilities related loss contracts, and $1.4 million of exit costs. Costs incurred during the three months ended March 31, 2022 of $6.8 million were primarily due to restructuring activities from the SpotX Acquisition, which included $3.3 million of impairment costs associated with abandoned technology and $1.9 million non-cash stock-based compensation expense associated with the acceleration of unvested equity awards.
Other (Income) Expense, Net
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Three Months Ended | | |
| March 31, 2023 | | March 31, 2022 | | | | |
| (in thousands) | | |
| Interest expense, net | $ | 8,175 | | | $ | 7,111 | | | | | |
| Other income | (1,313) | | | (1,263) | | | | | |
| Foreign exchange loss, net | 233 | | | 926 | | | | | |
| Gain on debt extinguishment | (8,549) | | | — | | | | | |
| Total other (income) expense, net | $ | (1,454) | | | $ | 6,774 | | | | | |
Interest expense, net increased $1.1 million during the three months ended March 31, 2023 compared to the three months ended March 31, 2022 primarily due to increases of interest expense of $3.2 million as a result of increased interest rates on our Term Loan B Facility, partially offset by increases of interest income of $2.2 million generated from cash equivalents and short term investments.
Foreign exchange loss, net is impacted by movements in exchange rates and the amount of foreign currency-denominated cash, receivables, and payables, which are impacted by our billings to buyers, payments to sellers, and intercompany balances. The
foreign exchange loss, net during the three months ended March 31, 2023 was primarily due to the currency movements between the British Pound, Australian Dollar, Canadian Dollar, and Euro relative to the U.S. Dollar.
During the three months ended March 31, 2023, we repurchased a portion of our Convertible Senior Notes and as a result, we recorded a gain on early extinguishment of debt of $8.5 million, representing the difference between the purchase price of $40.8 million and the net carrying amount of the debt extinguished of $49.4 million, which included a principal balance of $50.3 million and $0.9 million of unamortized debt issuance costs.
Provision (Benefit) for Income Taxes
We recorded an income tax benefit of $0.3 million and $2.0 million for the three months ended March 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively. The tax benefit for the three months ended March 31, 2023 and March 31, 2022 was primarily the result of recognizing the benefit of DTAs previously subject to the domestic valuation allowance and the foreign income tax provision. We continue to maintain a partial valuation allowance for our domestic DTAs.
Key Operating and Financial Performance Metrics
In addition to our GAAP results, we review non-GAAP financial measures, including Revenue ex-TAC and Adjusted EBITDA, to help us evaluate our business on a consistent basis, measure our performance, identify trends affecting our business, establish budgets, measure the effectiveness of investments in our technology and development and sales and marketing, and assess our operational efficiencies. Our non-GAAP financial measures are discussed below. Revenue and net income (loss) are discussed above under the headings "Components of Our Results of Operations" and "Results of Operations."
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Three Months Ended | | |
| March 31, 2023 | | March 31, 2022 | | Change
Favorable/ (Unfavorable) | | | | | | |
| (in thousands) | | | | | | |
| Financial Measures and non-GAAP Financial Measures: | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Revenue | $ | 130,150 | | | $ | 118,075 | | | 10% | | | | | | |
| Revenue ex-TAC | 116,049 | | 107,084 | | 8% | | | | | | |
| Gross profit | 5,322 | | | 58,679 | | | (91)% | | | | | | |
| Net loss | (98,732) | | | (44,593) | | | (121)% | | | | | | |
| Adjusted EBITDA | 23,338 | | | 28,841 | | | (19)% | | | | | | |
Revenue ex-TAC
Revenue ex-TAC is revenue excluding traffic acquisition cost ("TAC"). Traffic acquisition cost, a component of cost of revenue, represents what we must pay sellers for the sale of advertising inventory through our platform for revenue reported on a gross basis. In calculating Revenue ex-TAC, we add back the cost of revenue, excluding TAC, to gross profit, the most comparable GAAP measurement. Revenue ex-TAC is a non-GAAP financial measure. Our management believes Revenue ex-TAC is a useful measure in assessing the performance of Magnite as a combined company following the SpotX Acquisition and facilitates a consistent comparison against our core business without considering the impact of traffic acquisition costs related to revenue reported on a gross basis.
Our use of Revenue ex-TAC has limitations as an analytical tool and you should not consider it in isolation or as a substitute for analysis of our financial results as reported under GAAP. A potential limitation of this non-GAAP financial measure is that other companies, including companies in our industry which have similar business arrangements, may define Revenue ex-TAC differently, which may make comparisons difficult. Because of these and other limitations, you should consider our non-GAAP measures only as supplemental to GAAP-based financial performance measures, including revenue, net income (loss) and cash flows.
The following table presents the calculation of gross profit and reconciliation of gross profit to Revenue ex-TAC for the three months ended March 31, 2023 and 2022:
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | Three Months Ended | | |
| | March 31, 2023 | | March 31, 2022 | | Change % | | | | | | |
| (in thousands) | | | | | | |
| Revenue | $ | 130,150 | | | $ | 118,075 | | | 10 | % | | | | | | |
| Less: Cost of revenue | 124,828 | | | 59,396 | | | 110 | % | | | | | | |
| Gross Profit | 5,322 | | | 58,679 | | | (91) | % | | | | | | |
| Add back: Cost of revenue, excluding TAC | 110,727 | | | 48,405 | | | 129 | % | | | | | | |
| Revenue ex-TAC | $ | 116,049 | | | $ | 107,084 | | | 8 | % | | | | | | |
We track the breakdown of Revenue ex-TAC across channels to better understand how our clients are transacting on our platform, which informs decisions as to business strategy and the allocation of resources and capital. The following table presents Revenue ex-TAC by channel:
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Revenue ex-TAC |
| Three Months Ended | | |
| March 31, 2023 | March 31, 2022 | | Change % | | | | | |
| (in thousands) | | | | | | |
| Channel: | | | | | | | | | | | |
| CTV | $ | 46,412 | | | $ | 42,303 | | | 10 | % | | | | | | |
| Mobile | 46,897 | | | 38,297 | | | 22 | % | | | | | | |
| Desktop | 22,740 | | | 26,484 | | | (14) | % | | | | | | |
| Total | $ | 116,049 | | | $ | 107,084 | | | 8 | % | | | | | | |
Revenue ex-TAC increased $9.0 million, or 8%, for the three months ended March 31, 2023 compared to the three months ended March 31, 2022. The increase in Revenue ex-TAC was primarily due to growth in mobile and CTV. This was partially offset by a decline in our desktop business.
Adjusted EBITDA
We define Adjusted EBITDA as net income (loss) adjusted to exclude stock-based compensation expense, depreciation and amortization, amortization of acquired intangible assets, impairment charges, interest income or expense, and other cash and non-cash based income or expenses that we do not consider indicative of our core operating performance, including, but not limited to foreign exchange gains and losses, acquisition and related items, gains or losses on extinguishment of debt, non-operational real estate and other expense (income), net, and provision (benefit) for income taxes. We believe Adjusted EBITDA is useful to investors in evaluating our performance for the following reasons:
•Adjusted EBITDA is widely used by investors and securities analysts to measure a company’s performance without regard to items such as those we exclude in calculating this measure, which can vary substantially from company to company depending upon their financing, capital structures, and the method by which assets were acquired.
•Our management uses Adjusted EBITDA in conjunction with GAAP financial measures for planning purposes, including the preparation of our annual operating budget, as a measure of performance and the effectiveness of our business strategies, and in communications with our board of directors concerning our performance. Adjusted EBITDA may also be used as a metric for determining payment of cash incentive compensation.
•Adjusted EBITDA provides a measure of consistency and comparability with our past performance that many investors find useful, facilitates period-to-period comparisons of operations, and also facilitates comparisons with other peer companies, many of which use similar non-GAAP financial measures to supplement their GAAP results.
Although Adjusted EBITDA is frequently used by investors and securities analysts in their evaluations of companies, Adjusted EBITDA has limitations as an analytical tool, and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for analysis of our results of operations as reported under GAAP. These limitations include:
•Stock-based compensation is a non-cash charge and will remain an element of our long-term incentive compensation package, although we exclude it as an expense when evaluating our ongoing operating performance for a particular period.
•Depreciation and amortization are non-cash charges, and the assets being depreciated or amortized will often have to be replaced in the future, but Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect any cash requirements for these replacements.
•Impairment charges are non-cash charges related to goodwill, intangible assets and/or long-lived assets.
•Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect non-cash charges related to acquisition and related items, such as amortization of acquired intangible assets, merger, acquisition, or restructuring related severance costs, and changes in the fair value of contingent consideration.
•Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect cash and non-cash charges and changes in, or cash requirements for, acquisition and related items, such as certain transaction expenses and expenses associated with earn-out amounts.
•Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect changes in our working capital needs, capital expenditures, non-operational real estate expenses or income, or contractual commitments.
•Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect cash requirements for income taxes and the cash impact of other income or expense.
•Other companies may calculate Adjusted EBITDA differently than we do, limiting its usefulness as a comparative measure.
Our Adjusted EBITDA is influenced by fluctuations in our revenue, cost of revenue, and the timing and amounts of the cost of our operations. Adjusted EBITDA should not be considered as an alternative to net income (loss), income (loss) from operations, or any other measure of financial performance calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP.
The following table presents a reconciliation of net loss, the most comparable GAAP measure, to Adjusted EBITDA for the three months ended March 31, 2023 and 2022 (in thousands):
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | Three Months Ended | | |
| | March 31, 2023 | | March 31, 2022 | | | | |
| Net loss | $ | (98,732) | | | $ | (44,593) | | | | | |
| Add back (deduct): | | | | | | | |
| Depreciation and amortization expense, excluding amortization of acquired intangible assets | 9,366 | | | 7,390 | | | | | |
| Amortization of acquired intangibles | 86,429 | | | 38,476 | | | | | |
| Stock-based compensation expense | 19,287 | | | 16,589 | | | | | |
| Merger, acquisition, and restructuring costs, excluding stock-based compensation expense | 7,322 | | | 4,812 | | | | | |
Non-operational real estate and other expense, net | 116 | | | 135 | | | | | |
| Interest expense, net | 8,175 | | | 7,111 | | | | | |
| Foreign exchange loss, net | 233 | | | 926 | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| Gain on extinguishment of debt | (8,549) | | | — | | | | | |
| Benefit for income taxes | (309) | | | (2,005) | | | | | |
| Adjusted EBITDA | $ | 23,338 | | | $ | 28,841 | | | | | |
Adjusted EBITDA decreased by $5.5 million during the three months ended March 31, 2023 compared to the three months ended March 31, 2022, primarily due to increases in cloud hosting, data center, and bandwidth costs and increases in personnel expenses, which are discussed in section "Comparison of the Three Months Ended March 31, 2023 and 2022."
Liquidity and Capital Resources
Liquidity
As of March 31, 2023, we had cash and cash equivalents of $236.6 million, of which $41.6 million was held in foreign currency denominated cash accounts, and an aggregate gross principal amount of $703.5 million of indebtedness outstanding under our Term Loan B Facility (as defined below) and our Convertible Senior Notes (as defined below). In addition, we are party to a $65.0 million Revolving Credit Facility (as defined below), of which approximately $5.3 million is assigned to outstanding but undrawn letters of credit. See "Capital Resources" below for further information about our outstanding debt.
Our principal cash requirements for the twelve-month period following this report primarily consist of personnel costs, contractual payment obligations, including office leases, data center costs and cloud hosting costs, capital expenditures, payment of interest and required principal payments on our Convertible Senior Notes and Term Loan B Facility, cash outlays for income taxes, and cash requirements to fund working capital. In the longer term, we would expect to have similar cash requirements, with increases in absolute dollars associated with the continued growth of our business and expansion of operations. See "Contractual Obligations and Known Future Cash Requirements" for a further discussion of our known material contractual obligations.
Our working capital needs and cash conversion cycle, which is influenced by seasonality and may be negatively impacted as a result of pandemics, inflationary, recessionary and other macroeconomic challenges, can have large fluctuations due to the
timing of receipts from buyers and timing of disbursements to sellers. In addition, in the event a buyer defaults on payment, we may still be required to pay sellers for the inventory purchased. Our capital expenditure investments tend to be higher in the second half of the year. The impacts from changes in working capital and capital expenditures can significantly impact our cash flows and therefore, our liquidity during any period presented.
We have historically relied upon cash and cash equivalents, cash generated from operations, borrowings under credit facilities and issuance of debt for our liquidity needs. Our ability to meet our cash requirements depends on, among other things, our operating performance, competitive developments, and financial market conditions, all of which are significantly affected by business, financial, economic, political, global health-related and other factors, many of which we may not be able to control or influence.
We believe our existing cash and cash equivalents, cash generated from operating activities, and amounts available to borrow under our Revolving Credit Facility will be sufficient to meet our working capital requirements for at least the next twelve months from the issuance of our financial statements. However, there are multiple factors that could impact our cash balances in the future, including the factors described above with respect to working capital and cash conversion cycles, as well as the duration and severity of events beyond our control and macroeconomic factors like labor shortages, supply chain disruptions, and inflation impacting the markets and communities in which our clients operate and the factors set forth in Part I, Item 1A: "Risk Factors" of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022.
Capital Resources
In March 2021, we sold convertible senior notes ("Convertible Senior Notes") for gross proceeds of $400.0 million. The Convertible Senior Notes are senior, unsecured obligations with interest payable semi-annually in cash at a rate of 0.25% per annum in arrears on March 15 and September 15. The Convertible Senior Notes will mature on March 15, 2026, unless earlier converted, redeemed, or repurchased. The initial conversion rate is 15.6539 shares per $1,000 principal amount of notes, which represents an initial conversion price of approximately $63.88 per share of the Company’s common stock and is subject to adjustment as described in the Offering Memorandum. At March 31, 2023, the balance of the Convertible Senior Notes was $343.8 million, net of unamortized debt issuance costs of $5.9 million. Accrued interest for the Convertible Senior Notes at March 31, 2023 was immaterial.
In conjunction with the issuance of the Convertible Senior Notes, we entered into capped call transactions to reduce the Company's exposure to additional cash payments above principal balances in the event of a cash conversion of the Convertible Senior Notes. The Company may owe additional cash or shares to the holders of the Convertible Senior Notes upon early conversion if our stock price exceeds $91.260 per share, which is subject to certain adjustments. Although the Company’s incremental exposure to the additional cash payment above the principal amount of the Convertible Senior Notes is reduced by the capped calls, conversion of the Convertible Senior Notes by the holders may cause dilution to the ownership interests of existing stockholders. See Note 13 "Debt" in the notes to unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements included in this Quarterly Report for more information regarding terms and conditions of the Convertible Senior Notes and the capped call transactions.
On April 30, 2021, and in conjunction with the SpotX Acquisition, we entered into a credit agreement (the "Credit Agreement") with Goldman Sachs Bank USA as administrative and collateral agent, and other lending parties thereto for a $360.0 million seven-year senior secured term loan facility ("Term Loan B Facility") and a $52.5 million senior secured revolving credit facility (the "Revolving Credit Facility"), which was subsequently increased to $65.0 million in June 2021. Amounts outstanding under the Credit Agreement accrue interest at a rate equal to either, (1) for the Term Loan B Facility, at the Company’s election, the Eurodollar Rate (as defined in the Credit Agreement) plus a margin of 5.00% per annum, or ABR (as defined in the Credit Agreement) plus a margin of 4.00%, and (2) for the Revolving Credit Facility, at the Company’s election, the Eurodollar Rate plus a margin of 4.25% to 4.75%, or ABR plus a margin of 3.25% to 3.75%, in each case, depending on the Company’s first lien net leverage ratio. As part of the Term Loan B Facility, the Company received $325 million in proceeds, net of discounts and fees, which were used to finance the SpotX Acquisition and related transactions and for general corporate purposes. At March 31, 2023, amounts available under the Revolving Credit Facility were $59.7 million, net of letters of credit outstanding in the amount of $5.3 million. Accrued interest for the Term Loan B Facility at March 31, 2023 was $0.8 million.
In February 2023, our Board of Directors approved a repurchase plan (the “2023 Repurchase Plan”), pursuant to which the Company is authorized to purchase up to an aggregate of $75.0 million of common stock or Convertible Senior Notes through February 16, 2025. The repurchase program allows the Company to repurchase its common stock or Convertible Senior Notes using open market stock purchases, privately negotiated transactions, block trades or other means in accordance with U.S. securities laws. Approximately $34.2 million remained available for purchases under this repurchase program as of March 31, 2023.
In the future, we may attempt to raise additional capital through the sale of equity securities or through equity-linked or debt financing arrangements. If we raise additional funds by issuing equity or equity-linked securities, the ownership of our existing stockholders may be diluted. If we raise additional financing by incurring indebtedness, we will be subject to increased fixed payment obligations and could also be subject to restrictive covenants, such as limitations on our ability to incur additional debt, and other operating restrictions that could adversely impact our ability to conduct our business. Any future indebtedness we incur may result in terms that could be unfavorable to equity investors.
An inability to raise additional capital could adversely affect our ability to achieve our business objectives. In addition, if our operating performance during the next twelve months is below our expectations, our liquidity and ability to operate our business could be adversely affected.
Our cash and cash equivalents balance is affected by our results of operations, the timing of capital expenditures which are typically greater in the second half of the year, and by changes in our working capital, particularly changes in accounts receivable and accounts payable. The timing of cash receipts from buyers and payments to sellers can significantly impact our cash flows from operating activities and our liquidity for, and within, any period presented. Our collection and payment cycle can vary from period to period depending upon various circumstances, including seasonality, and may be negatively impacted by certain macroeconomic challenges, such as capital market disruptions and instability of financial institutions.
